Nothing Quite Like It
by BeeKay84
Summary: A few weeks after the Fischer job, Ariadne notices how hard it is to just go back to her studies and give up on a world of pure creation. She feels something is missing in her life now. And maybe someone, too. Ariadne/Arthur. COMPLETE! Please R&R!
1. Sleepless Dreams

DISCLAIMER – I still do not own _Inception_ or any of its characters. They still belong to Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. Once again, I'm only borrowing them.

AUTHOR'S NOTE – Hi there! It's BeeKay84 again, with another piece of _Inception_ fanfiction_._ This movie is pretty inspiring, planting ideas inside my mind every time I watch it. So, I decided to turn these ideas into a little fanfic. I started this a little while ago, not really knowing where it would be going. I don't even know if I really do now. All I can say is it's going to be about the pairing Arthur/Ariadne, my favorite ship in this fandom. I guess the meaning of the title should be pretty obvious…  
Once again, I'm sorry to disappoint those of my followers here who might have expected a different kind of fanfic. Please, don't be mad.  
I started writing this for an Arthur/Ariadne group over at deviantART, so if you happen to be a member, you might recognize it. I uploaded the first 2 chapters there already, but the rest will be uploaded here as well as over at deviantART. Now, let's get to it. I hope you enjoy. ;)

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**NOTHING QUITE LIKE IT**

**Chapter One: Sleepless Dreams**

Her eyes snapped open and stared at the ceiling of the darkened room above her. As she fixed her gaze upon a random spot of the blank ceiling, a series of thoughts crossed her mind, one by one, like the wagons of a train would cross an intersection. Thoughts that had struck her several times already in the past few weeks.

Why would she always wake up in the middle of the night?

Why was it so hard to go back to sleep?

Was it a dream that kept her mind busy?

And how come she could not remember her dreams?

Ariadne sighed, rolling over on her right side and slowly sitting up on the edge of her bed, her bare feet dangling a few inches above the floor. For a moment, she looked at the linoleum, then pushed herself off the bed, forcing herself to stand on the cold material. In her short-sleeved pyjama top and panties, she tiptoed around her bed into another corner of her one-room-apartment to sit down at her desk. Turning on the desk lamp, Ariadne blinked several times and rubbed her eyes to adjust them to the sudden brightness, then began looking through the pile of sketches on one side of the desk, opposing the pile of books on architecture on the other side. This seemed to have become a nightly ritual for her.

It had been a few weeks since Ariadne had returned from the Fischer job back to her studies in Paris. What had seemed like the strangest job offer she could have ever imagined had introduced her to the most fascinating experience of her life, something she could have never thought of even in her wildest fantasies: Dream-sharing.

Having been part of Cobb's inception team as their dream architect had given her the opportunity to create structures that would be impossible to build in the waking world. While dreaming, she had been able to construct whatever she wanted, with little effort and in a few moments' time. Now that she looked through her sketches of buildings night after night, products of hours of work, Ariadne could not help but feel uncreative, disappointed, incapable. She could do so much more, if only she had been given the chance to activate her mind's secret talent again.

Pure creation.

_There's nothing quite like it._

Ariadne could not help but think of this one sentence Arthur had said to her when she had decided to join their team, against all moral doubts she had seen herself confronted with in the first place. It was absolutely true. There _was_ nothing like having unlimited creative abilities, following every source of inspiration, defying reality and physical laws, constructing impossible architecture. Like paradoxical staircases.

Once again, memories of her dream-sharing experiences came to her mind. This time she remembered her first shared dream with Arthur, when he had shown her how to use paradoxical architecture in order to hide the boundaries of a dream. In another few shared dreams, he had taught her some basic subconscious defense skills and how to keep her own projections out of someone else's dream. After that, he had let her create mazes in another few dreams, inspecting her work with interest, throwing in comments and compliments every now and then. The more she thought about those shared dreams she had experienced in the course of her training, the more she remembered how much she had enjoyed them.

Suddenly, Ariadne caught herself smiling from ear to ear at those memories. As if being kicked awake from a dream, she almost jumped from her chair, shaking her head as if to recollect her thoughts. For a whole while, she stared into nothingness, gaping, pondering.

How come she could not stop thinking about Arthur, all of a sudden?

Before, she had always focussed her memories on what she had experienced in her shared dreams, not _who_ she had experienced them with. But was this really the first time he was on her mind?

Ariadne thought back to when she was first introduced to Arthur. Her first impression of him had been pretty simple: A young man wearing three-piece suits, gelled back hair and a nonchalant expression, much the silent type, non-talkative, mysterious, calm. And to her, it had seemed as if there was nothing that could possibly cause him to lose his composure, be it by shouting at someone or by showing any kind of emotion. Just like the stereotypical "man in black".

But the more she had gotten to work with Arthur in the preparation phase as well as on the actual inception job, the more Ariadne had noticed that there was much more about this man. Not only was he very intelligent and dedicated to his work, he also showed the same fascination for the infinite possibilities of the dream world she did. And even though his line of work was to be considered not quite legal, he did not appear to be a cold-hearted criminal. He certainly had the ability to react to events emotionally, but most of the time, he was good at hiding his feelings.

There were some things she had gotten to know about Arthur's personality. But still, in his entire being, he remained a mystery to her. And Ariadne was easily fascinated by mysteries and by the urge to solve them.

One mystery had been keeping her mind busy in particular. And that was the meaning of one certain event that had taken place during their inception job. On the second dream level, when they had created a hotel to hunt down Fischer and put him under yet again, Cobb had pretended to be the head of Fischer's subconscious security. He had told him he was dreaming, causing all of Fischer's projections to look for anyone suspicious. All those people, projections of Fischer's subconscious, had been looking at her and Arthur.

And then he had kissed her.

Or had she kissed him?

She was no longer sure about this one detail of those half-remembered dreams. All she remembered was that their lips had been touching for a rather short, but intense moment. And just a few moments later, Arthur had been all business again, and so had she.

_It meant nothing._ Ariadne told this to herself every time she caught herself thinking about that memory. However, in the corner of her mind, she could not help but wonder if it _had_ meant something, after all.

_It was just a dream. A dream within a dream, to be precise._ Then again, Ariadne knew it had been a shared dream, and therefore a lucid dream. All the time, they both had known exactly what was going on and what they were doing. And it had been Arthur's dream, after all.

_Maybe he just wanted to have a little fun._ Ariadne pondered the thought for a second with a knowing smile, but dismissing it at the same moment. _Is he really that kind of guy?_ She did not know what else to make of it, though.

There was only one way to find out. She had to ask him. Ariadne stood, making her way to the phone lying on her bedside table. It was only when she sat down on the edge of her bed, holding the cell phone in her hand, that it occurred to her she did not have his number.

Actually, Ariadne had no way of contacting anyone from the team. After they had landed in Los Angeles that day, they had all been picked up by different limousines and taken to their respective hotels. Saito had arranged all of that, Ariadne had figured. She had not seen or heard anything of the other team members, after they had all left the airport. She had spent one night at her hotel room, then returned to the airport in her limo the next morning and took the next flight back to Paris, all the while noticing that everything had been paid for in advance. After having been back in Paris for a few days, she had received a pretty huge amount of money on her bank account, too. Another few days later, she had heard a special report on the news about Robert Fischer's decision to split up his recently inherited company.

But after all of that, there was nothing else left to remind her of the incredible experience she had been a part of. And apparently, there was no way for her to live that kind of experience again. Additionally, she had no way of knowing just what had been on Arthur's mind when they had kissed in his dream.

Ariadne sighed and put her cell phone back on her bedside table. Slowly, she crawled back under her sheets, trying to go back to sleep. A sleep without dreams.

At least without the type of dreams she wanted to have.

**End of Chapter One**

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE – This could also be called a prologue, I guess, for it was rather short and merely an introduction to the story. Well, what do you think so far? Of course, you can't tell much from it yet, but I hope it made at least some of you curious. There were so many other things I wanted to include in that chapter originally, but I didn't want to ruin the flow of it. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter should be a little longer and will be coming right up. Until then, please feel free to leave a review!


	2. A Hard Lecture

AUTHOR'S NOTE – Chapter Two, coming right up, like I promised. Just a few more things I'd like to point out: It was only when I started writing this fanfic that I noticed there was another _Inception_ fanfic called "Nothing Quite Like It" uploaded here already, by the user EmoGleek. But since this one is a multiple-chapter-fic, while EmoGleek's is a collection of one-shots, I hope she won't mind me using the title, too. About the rating, I guess I'll use the rating T, just in case. As for the genre, I'm not quite sure if Romance/Drama is the right category. I guess it's the most accurate one, though. I have no idea what category to use for my one-shot, either, so it's General. Anyways, now on to the chapter…

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**Chapter Two: A Hard Lecture**

In the past few weeks at college, time had seemed to crawl by like a snail to Ariadne sometimes. Even the most interesting lecture would start boring her in the course of a few minutes. Then, Ariadne usually started drawing things on her notepad, mainly mazes. She used to draw stuff during lectures even before her dream-sharing experiences, but more in a casual way, still paying attention to what the professor was talking about, and never more than one or two little sketches per lecture. Recently, however, Ariadne had become so engrossed in her drawings, she hardly even noticed when the lectures were over, realizing that she had written down just one or two lines about the lecture's subject, while filling a whole page of her notepad with mazes in the process.

So far, Ariadne had been able to stay attentive at least during Professor Miles' lectures. But that one day, after she had spent yet another night thinking about the inception job and about Arthur, she could not help but give in to the urge to sketch something on her notepad rather than listening. She placed the tip of her pen on her notepad, slowly drawing line after line, careful not to mess up. Her full concentration was focussed on this one image she was having on her mind right now and how she could bring it on paper. Having completely lost her sense of time, Ariadne did not intend to stop drawing before she was finished.

On her squared notepad, she was constructing an infinite staircase. With a subtle smile on her face, she finished drawing the last line, putting down her pen and silently marveling at her work. Just a few moments later, she was startled by someone suddenly addressing her.

"I had no idea my lecture would be _that_ inspiring," a familiar elderly voice said.

Ariadne looked up to see Professor Miles standing a few feet away from her on one of the steps of the lecture hall. When she beheld the firm, yet slightly amused expression on the white-haired professor's face, her cheeks quickly reddened. A brief inspection of her surroundings told her that the auditorium was already completely vacated, except for herself and the professor, which caused Ariadne to blush even more.

She cleared her throat, stuttering: "I… I'm sorry, Professor."

While she embarrassedly brushed a strand of hair behind her right ear, Professor Miles approached her and seated himself backwards on a bench in the row in front of hers, resting his arms on the desk, looking at her with concern. "What has been troubling you lately, Ariadne?" he asked in a gentle voice.

Ariadne still looked away from him, thinking about how to reply to that question for a second or two, then simply shrugged.

At that, Professor Miles gave her a knowing smile, stating: "I believe I know what's distracting you. How could I not?"

For the first time, Ariadne looked at him directly, wearing a surprised expression. Of course, it occurred to her, he would know a thing or two about dream-sharing, as he was the one who had introduced her to the extractor Dom Cobb. However, she still had no idea about the exact connection between Professor Miles and the Extractor.

When Ariadne remained silent, the professor spoke up again: "I know it must be hard for you to return to your studies after what you have experienced, Ariadne. Sitting in lecture halls, listening to some old man is indeed frustrating, compared to a world of infinite creation."

"No, it's not like that," Ariadne desperately tried to soothe him, feeling like she had offended the professor personally by not paying attention to his lecture. "It's just that… well, I…"

Thinking about how to finish that sentence, Ariadne soon realized she couldn't. He was right. What he had just said to her was entirely true. She _was_ frustrated about not being able to let her creative abilities run free any more. As she silently admitted this to herself, she barely nodded, giving the professor an apologetic look.

Professor Miles returned the nod, then looked at the floor for a moment, wearing a frown on his face. Ariadne could tell that something grave must be on his mind. When he lifted his head and spoke up again, his tone had remarkably changed, sounding way more serious than before.

"I would be lying if I said I had a good feeling about letting you work for my son-in-law," he said, leaving Ariadne stunned, almost shocked, once more.

_Son-in-law? Then Professor Miles… is Mal's father?_ It did answer her question about the connection between him and Cobb, but raised a few more at the same time. Questions that caused Ariadne to tense up in her seat, feeling goose bumps appear all over her skin.

_Does he _know_ what exactly had caused Mal's death?_ The mere thought of either possibility sent cold shivers down her spine. Resisting the urge to bring up that subject, Ariadne shoved the thought aside, trying to come up with a way to end this conversation in a satisfactory way.

Finally, she straightened herself in her seat, causing him to look directly at her. "Professor, I promise, I won't let myself get carried away like this again," she thoroughly reassured him.

At that, Cobb's father-in-law smiled and dismissed her.

-xXOXx-

Later that day, Ariadne had another lecture, held by a different professor this time, but she lived up to her promise by paying attention throughout the whole lesson. She resisted the urge to draw at all times, only taking notes about what the professor said. Still, it was no easy task for her to just sit there and listen. And while time still seemed to creep by as if in slow motion to her, at one point, Ariadne caught herself calculating how much one of her lectures would make in dream time and just what she could accomplish during that time.

After that lecture, Ariadne was walking through the halls of the college carrying her bag, her eyes fixed upon the exit in the distance. She was about to go straight home, when a young female voice with a strong French accent was calling from behind her: "Ari, wait for me, please!"

But Ariadne did not bother to stop or even turn around, so her fellow student ran up to her side, poking her. "Ari, did you not 'ear me?" she asked.

Only now, Ariadne stopped and replied, a little surprised: "Oh, hey, Marie. Sorry, I didn't notice you before. How're you doing?"

Marie was her age, only a few inches taller than Ariadne, with straight blonde hair, blue eyes and what Ariadne thought must be the brightest teeth she had ever seen. Ariadne and Marie had first met at the college, as they had begun their studies at the same time. They had become pretty good friends, but Marie did not get as good grades as Ariadne, so she had to repeat some courses. That was the reason why they did not see each other as often at college as they used to any more. And recently, Ariadne had not spent much time with her outside of college, either. Or with anyone else, for that matter.

Showing her bright teeth, Marie smiled at her, saying: "I'm fine, and 'ow are you?"

With way less enthusiasm in her voice, Ariadne answered: "Uh, great. So, what's up?"

The blonde girl suggested: "I wanted to ask you if you 'ave plans tonight. We could go out, 'ave fun."

Ariadne shook her head slightly and sighed: "Sorry, Marie, I don't think I'm in the mood to go out tonight."

"Oh, come on, Ari," Marie begged. "We 'ave not been out for so long! And the last time I asked you, you promised you say yes the next time!"

_Who else did I make a promise to lately?_ Ariadne pondered the thought for a while, then replied with a smile: "Alright, I think I do need a change."

-xXOXx-

On the following day, Ariadne awoke to a bad headache. Her vision was blurry, her head spinning, her hair a mess. She did not know when she had gotten home at night or exactly what had happened before that. All she knew for certain was that she must have had way too many drinks.

How could she have ended up like that? Usually, Ariadne was very cautious about drinking alcohol, and out of her and Marie, she was definitely the more responsible drinker. But last night, she obviously had not been as responsible as she usually was.

Despite her pounding headache, Ariadne tried to recreate the past night's events in her mind as best as she could. She and Marie had gone to a night club together. She remembered dancing, drinking, talking. What had she been talking about to Marie? Somehow, she remembered ranting about something. Did she tell her anything about dream-sharing? About inception? Or about Arthur? The fact that she could not answer those questions almost drove her out of her mind. She would have to ask Marie about what had been going on, once she saw her at the college.

Growning at the effort, Ariadne somehow managed to sit up in her bed. With weak arms, she reached for her cell phone on the bedside table to check the time. As she grabbed it and looked at it, she did not notice anything first, but then quickly checked the time again, blinking, staring in disbelief. Utterly shocked, she realized it was already 12:30 p.m. And even worse: She had missed a lecture in the morning. One of Professor Miles' lectures.

_Great. One promise kept, another one broken. _Ariadne sighed, pondering whether or not she should get going in order to at least be on time for her lectures in the afternoon. After a whole while of thinking and feeling like her head might explode any second, she finally decided to stay at home.

-xXOXx-

For the rest of the day, Ariadne had not been doing much. After a while, she had gotten up to take a shower, thrown in an aspirin, eaten a microwave meal and spent a lot of time sitting at her desk, sketching. Now, in the early evening, she was sitting at her desk again, this time trying to read in one of her textbooks to learn for the next day. She could not seem to concentrate on reading, though.

Suddenly, her cell phone rang. Slightly confused, Ariadne looked over at her cell phone lying on the bedside table in the opposite corner of her room. After the second ring, she got up to walk over to the bed and pick up her phone. _Maybe it's Marie._

Without looking at the display, Ariadne answered the call: "Hello?"

"Ariadne? Hello," a somewhat familiar male voice said. "This is Dom Cobb."

It took Ariadne a moment to realize who it was. In a surprised way, she replied: "Oh, yeah. Hi, Cobb."

"How are you doing, Ariadne?" Cobb inquired. Only now, Ariadne noticed his voice sounded totally different than the last time she had talked to him. Somehow… light-hearted.

Ariadne cleared her throat. "Well, I'm fine, thank you," she said, trying to use a tone similar to his. "What's going on?"

"Not much, fortunately," he answered, probably with a smile on his face. "I've been spending a lot of time with my kids."

This made Ariadne smile herself. _So he made it._ "How are they?" she asked.

"Great. James is getting very lively, and Phillipa is excited about going to school this fall," he stated.

There were a few seconds of silence, except for something that sounded like children laughing in the background. Then Ariadne uttered one of her thoughts: "So, why are you calling?"

Cobb sighed: "Miles called me." At that, Ariadne felt her heart drop, thinking about how disappointed her professor must be. "He was very… upset," Cobb added.

"What did he say?" Ariadne wanted to know, although she could very well imagine what Professor Miles had told him.

"He said you were kind of absent-minded at college lately," he explained, then paused for a moment. With another sigh, he continued: "He told me off like a little boy for breaking the two promises I had made to him."

Ariadne remembered him mentioning only one promise to his father-in-law. "What was the other promise?" she inquired.

"I promised him you wouldn't come into the dream with us, _and_ I promised I wouldn't corrupt his best student," Cobb said with emphasis.

At that, Ariadne felt the need to justify herself, nearly shouting at him: "You of all people should know how hard it is to go back! To give up on a world of infinite creativity!"

There were a few seconds of silence again. "Yes, but I managed to put that behind me," Cobb then retorted. "And it was my _last_ job. I'm out of that business."

Ariadne pondered this for a moment, then asked carefully: "What about the others? Are they still in business?"

"I think so," he replied nonchalantly. "Well, Arthur definitely is."

At that, Ariadne took in a deep breath, as she noticed her heart suddenly beating a little faster than before. She closed her eyes, holding her breath for a moment, then slowly let it out. When she could not seem to find any words, Cobb added: "At least that's what he said when he came for a visit last week."

There was a tiny voice babbling something in the background, but Ariadne could not make out any words. She heard Cobb whisper: "Just a minute, James. I'll be right there." To her, he said: "I'm sorry, Ariadne, I have to go now. Well, I just thought I'd give you a call."

As he was trying to end their conversation, Ariadne knew this might be her only chance. It was now or never. In a trembling voice, she said: "Cobb…"

"Yes?"

She took another deep breath, then asked: "Could you… could you give me Arthur's number?"

In a clearly concerned voice, Cobb replied: "I don't… think that's a good idea, Ariadne."

"Please," Ariadne begged. "Or ask him to call me. Please, Cobb, this is very important for me."

There was an awkward silence. Another little babble from James in the background. More silence. Her heart racing. Then, Cobb sighed, finally answering: "Alright. Do you have pen and paper ready?"

**End of Chapter Two**

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AUTHOR'S NOTE – He, he, I've been thinking about cutting out before we hear Cobb's answer, but oh well. Okay, so, obviously, I support the "Cobb is in reality at the end of the movie" theory in my story, hope that works for you. As for how Cobb got Ariadne's number, I guess either he or Miles had it, I didn't feel like further explaining that. What else? Well, Marie is an original character, obviously. And well, she's calling Ariadne "Ari", as I believe that's her fanon nickname. Personally, I think "Aria" would sound good, too, but then again, this might be a special nickname… for special people. ;) I guess that's it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't know when I'll manage to get the next one done. Please be patient, okay? I'm looking forward to your reviews.


	3. Rolling the Dice

AUTHOR'S NOTE – Thank you all for your nice reviews, I'm really happy to hear you like this story so far! :) This chapter took me a little longer than I had expected, but with the evenings and weekends being so short, I'm glad I got to finish it now. Let's get right to it… Enjoy!

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**Chapter Three: Rolling the Dice**

_It's easier said than done._ Ariadne thought as she walked over the long bridge on her way to the college, carrying her bag, observing her surroundings, like she had done so many times before. All those people passing by, either coming from or going into her direction, seemed so random, yet somehow familiar to her. It was not their faces that struck her as familiar, but the way they were walking along the road, most of them hurrying or at least using a fast pace, looking straight ahead, not letting themselves be distracted by anything around them. Some of them looked like they were running away from something. Just like she was.

It was still hard to believe for her, but Cobb had actually given her Arthur's phone number. She must have been very convincing to make him understand what it meant to her. Then again, it certainly did not take much for him to understand, at least from a professional point of view. Having experienced the infinite possibilities of dream-sharing so many times himself, Cobb certainly knew how tempting this kind of business was, despite all the risks and moral reprehensibility coming along with it. But what about her personal motivation to contact Arthur? Did Cobb suspect anything? And how come he had given her the number just like that? Wouldn't he have to ask for Arthur's allowance first? Neither did Ariadne know the answers to those questions, nor their importance.

There was one thing she did know. Getting Arthur's number had been quite easy – almost _too_ easy. But giving him a call indeed proved to be easier said than done. The second her conversation with Cobb had ended, she wanted to dial his number, but found herself being unable to do it. She knew exactly what she wanted to call him for, but the mere thought of calling Arthur and asking him those questions burning inside of her caused her heart to beat like a drum and her legs to turn to jelly. And so, she had decided to wait until she was more relaxed about the whole issue, even though she had no idea when that might be the case. She was running away from it.

Ariadne had crossed the bridge half-way, when she noticed that she was indeed almost running, so she slowed down her pace. She also started watching the people walking by more attentively. Somehow, she developed a genuine interest in their appearances, their behavior, their movements. As she was looking at the people to her left, she became aware of someone walking behind her quickening their pace. Within the next few moments, that person was walking past her right side, overtaking her. Slowly, Ariadne turned her head in order to see who had just passed by her.

And then, she gasped, almost stopping and staring at the figure walking in front of her. She could only see the person from behind now, but the appearance immediately struck her like a flash of lightning. It was a businessman with gelled back hair, with one hand placed in his coat pocket, carrying a steel suitcase in his other hand. _No way! It can't be…_

"…Arthur?" Ariadne asked half-aloud, not heard by anyone. Automatically, she accelerated, trying to keep up with the man.

"Arthur!" she repeated, calling out this time, but there was no reaction. Ariadne quickened her pace once more, almost breaking into a run. That way, she soon was walking right next to the businessman.

"Arthur?" she uttered once more, causing the man to look at her – only to realize it wasn't him. As the stranger stopped and stared at her with a confused expression, Ariadne looked at the ground for a moment, then stuttered: "E-excuse me, I… I mistook you for… someone else."

In response, the man simply shook his head in disbelief, then walked on, leaving an embarrassed Ariadne frozen to the spot. _Gosh, did that really just happen…?_

After a while, she got over it as best as she could for the moment, and began to move on. She could not tell if it was her imagination or her slow pace, but somehow, the bridge she had crossed more than half-way already did not seem to end any time soon.

All of a sudden, Ariadne saw another businessman carrying a steel suitcase, walking into the direction she came from. Or was that the same man as before? From the distance, she could not tell. As the man came closer, Ariadne found him to bear a striking resemblance to Arthur, but when their paths crossed, she realized it was neither him, nor the man from before. Only a few moments later, in the corner of her eye, she noticed a silver shine. Turning her head, she beheld a man with a steel suitcase in his one hand, walking next to her a few feet away. Someone passed by between them – once again, a man carrying a steel suitcase.

Totally bewildered, Ariadne stopped, looking all around her. No matter what direction she turned to, everywhere she saw businessmen with steel suitcases. And then, there was a strange buzzing sound penetrating the air.

_What the hell is going on here?_

The very next moment, Ariadne was waking up with a start in her bed, hearing the vibrating sounds of her cell phone indicate her early morning call. After a few seconds of shock, she let out a deep breath, not entirely relieved, but considerably more calm. Sitting up in her bed, she reached for her cell phone to turn off the alarm. Once she had silenced it, she lay it back on her bedside table, slowly climbing out of her bed.

_What a weird dream!_ Ariadne thought while she was collecting some clothes from her wardrobe. _But it felt so real! After all those shared dreams I had, I didn't think normal dreams could still do that. I didn't know I was dreaming, though. Or did I?_ After a moment, she decided it was of no use to think about that and went to the bathroom.

Later, Ariadne was almost ready to leave for college. With her bag over her shoulder, she went for her bedside table once more, adjusting her scarf in the process. Standing in front of the bedside table, she took her cell phone with the intention to put it in her bag. Her arm stopped in the movement half-way, pulling back to present the object in her palm. Ariadne considered the phone in her hand for a whole while.

_Not now,_ she decided then, letting out a sigh. _But definitely when I get back._

With that, she put the cell phone in her bag and went for the door.

-xXOXx-

Crossing the bridge on her way to college felt more than awkward to Ariadne that day. She almost considered taking the long way round instead, but then she told herself not to be ridiculous. After all, she knew it had been just a dream, she did remember how she had gotten to the bridge now, and so she could still tell the difference between dream and reality.

The first thing Ariadne did when she arrived at the college was talk to Professor Miles. The moment he entered the auditorium, Ariadne addressed him, standing right next to the door waiting for him. She apologized for not having attended his lecture the day before and for breaking her promise to him, stating how there was no excuse for her behavior. At that, the professor only nodded with a frown and an unreadable expression on his face, asking her to take her seat and talk to him after the lecture.

Ariadne had been attentive the whole time, trying not to worry about the professor's reaction. When all the other students had left the auditorium after the lecture, she slowly approached his desk, feeling uncomfortable like a high school student condemned to detention. As she came to a stop in front of the desk and cleared her throat before speaking up, Professor Miles finally looked up at her from his papers, with expectation in his eyes.

"Professor, like I said before, I'm very sorry for my unexcused absence yesterday," Ariadne began. "I know I've disappointed you by breaking the promise I made just the day before. And it's probably of no use, but I'd like to reassure you that something like this will never happen again."

He lowered his eyes as if pondering what she had just said. While Ariadne nervously waited for his response, the professor took off his glasses, loosely holding them with one hand, still fixing his gaze upon a random spot on his papers. Then, he finally looked up at her again, asking in a serious tone: "How can I rest assured that you mean to keep your promise this time?"

Ariadne did not know if it was the question itself or the way he had asked it, but something about it took her completely by surprise. She had no idea what would be the right thing to say, but after a few moments of thinking, she answered in a tone matching his: "I know how important my studies are, and I'm determined to give my best and get as good grades as I did up to now."

Professor Miles leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. "That does not entirely convince me, Ariadne," he stated without any change in voice or expression.

Ariadne quietly let out her breath, supressing the urge to sigh in frustration. Her gaze wandered about as if looking for the right response in this very room. What could she say to convince him? Thinking hard, Ariadne somehow started wondering whether or not the professor knew that his son-in-law had called her the night before. At the same time, she did not even know if this was of any importance right now. As she pondered these questions, she remembered her talk on the phone with Cobb. And all of a sudden, she thought of something.

Carefully, she tried to explain: "I don't know if there's any way to prove I really mean it. The thing is, I had a lot on my mind in the past few weeks. There was one… problem in particular that kept my mind busy and distracted me from my studies, but… I think I found a way to solve it now. And with that problem out of the way, I can and I will fully concentrate on my studies again."

Once she had ended, Ariadne took a deep breath, quietly waiting for the professor's reply, but on the inside, she was as nervous as she could be. Would the professor really believe what she had just said? At least, Ariadne knew that she was being as honest as she could possibly be. Of course, this "problem" she had just mentioned referred to a certain Point Man. She did find a way to solve her problem, now that she had Arthur's phone number. But could she really solve it by calling him and asking him what she wanted to know? Would she really be able to concentrate on her studies again after making that call?

_I have no idea what happens when I call him, but I do know what'll happen if I don't,_ Ariadne pondered._ It'll drive me completely out of my mind. So, calling him would probably be the better way to keep my mind and therefore my concentration unaffected. What I just told the professor is completely true. I just hope he doesn't ask me what problem I was talking about…_

Just as she had finished that thought, a subtle smile appeared on Professor Miles' face. "It's alright, Ariadne," he finally replied. "I believe you."

-xXOXx-

The second thing Ariadne had intended to do that day was to ask Marie about their night out. And she soon got the opportunity to put that plan into action, as she met her friend in the hallway, right before their next lecture.

"Hi, Marie!" she greeted her once she was walking next to her.

"Oh, salut, Ari!" the French girl replied with a smile. "You were not 'ere yesterday, right?"

"That's right, I wasn't," Ariadne chuckled. "I had a terrible hangover."

"Poor you!" Marie teased her. "Don't you know that drinking is bad for you, Ari?"

"I guess I just had a little too much, is all," Ariadne stated in a serious tone. "I hardly remember what was going on. Would you fill me in?"

"Let me think…" Marie looked up into the air for a moment, then continued: "Nothing special. We danced, we talked, we 'ad fun."

"What did we talk about?" Ariadne inquired.

"Oh, like always," her friend answered. "The boys at college, the boys at the club, the boring lectures. Only this time, you told me 'ow boring Professor Miles is about ten times."

Ariadne grinned sheepishly, thinking about how the professor would react if he had heard her. Shaking her head in disbelief, she then asked: "Was that all I had to say?"

"Yes."

"So, anything else I missed?"

Marie's smile grew bigger, as she said: "Well… you missed a guy on the dancefloor and almost kissed the bar instead." When Ariadne gaped at her, her eyes growing wide, Marie chuckled: "I fooled you, Ari."

"Marie!"

Soon, they both started giggling, not even stopping when they entered the lecture hall.

-xXOXx-

Later that day, Ariadne was back in her apartment. Now was the time to do the third and most important, but also the most difficult thing she had intended to do that day. For what felt like hours, but was actually no more than ten minutes, Ariadne had been sitting on the edge of her bed, holding her cell phone in one hand, nervously clinging to the side of the bed with her other hand. All those minutes, Ariadne had not moved an inch, her gaze had been fixed upon the piece of paper with Arthur's phone number written on it, lying on the bedside table next to her. The only movement she registered was the rapid beating of her heart.

Finally, she let out a deep breath. _It won't get any easier, so just do it!_

Digit by digit, she typed in the number, pressed the dialing button – then quickly pressed another button to abort the call, as the drumming inside her chest became even faster. _What am I even supposed to say? I can't just call him out of nowhere and ask: 'Hey, Arthur, why did you kiss me within the dream?' I guess I should come up with something first…_

For a few moments, Ariadne pondered what to say, but then pushed her thoughts aside and decided to be spontaneous. Once again, she dialed the number – and once again, she ended the call before it had begun. _I don't even know in what time zone he is right now. What if I disturb him in the middle of the night? Or worse, in the middle of a job? But in that case, the call would certainly go to voice mail. Gosh, and what do I say then?_

She spent a couple of minutes formulating a short message she would leave him in that case, then decided there were no more excuses. _Right now or never!_ She took a deep breath, dialed the number, resisted the urge to press any more buttons and held the phone to her ear. With her heart pounding, she nervously waited for a reaction.

After the fourth or fifth ring, the call was answered: "Hello?"

Hearing his voice caused Ariadne's breath to get caught in her throat. As if robbed of the ability to speak properly, she only managed to stutter: "He-hello… This is… um…"

There were a few seconds of silence. Then a surprised Arthur asked: "Ariadne?"

Her heart jumped with joy at the realization that he recognized her. "Yeah… yes, it's… it's me," she replied smiling, having found her voice again for the moment.

When she did not say anything for a while, he inquired: "How are you?"

No _Who gave you my number?_ or _Why are you calling?_ – at least he did not seem annoyed by her call. Reminding herself not to get lost in her thoughts, Ariadne said: "Uh… fine. And you?"

"Good," he replied in his nonchalant tone. Once again, Ariadne seemed at a loss for words, so he added: "How's college going?"

"Oh… yeah, good," she answered, caught a little off guard. "Well… actually, it's a bit… not that exciting. So, I… was wondering, if…"

"…if you could get another job as a dream architect?" he finished the sentence for her, probably wearing a knowing smile on his face.

That caused Ariadne to smile herself and become a little more teasing, retorting: "Was that an offer?"

At that, Arthur's tone turned all business again: "Uh… listen, I'll be in Paris next week, for a job. I think we should meet up and talk about this some more. What do you say?"

Completely taken by surprise, Ariadne silently gulped, then carefully uttered: "Okay… When?"

"How about Monday?" came his suggestion without hesitation. "When's your last lecture at college that day?"

Ariadne thought for a few moments, trying not to be distracted by the rapid beats of her heart. "Uh, it ends at four," she then replied.

"Alright, I'll meet you there," Arthur said in a calm voice. "See you then."

She could not have been fast enough to reply, for as soon as he had said that, he hung up. Ariadne slowly put away her cell phone and took a few deep breaths, trying to relax. _Did that really just happen…?_

As if stung by a bee, Ariadne jumped from her bed, walked across the room to sit at her desk, opened its top drawer, searching for something inside. Finally, she found the small chess piece that was her totem. She had not used it since the Fischer job. Now, she set it up on her desk, hesitated for a little moment, then tipped it with her finger…

Looking at her fallen totem, Ariadne let out a deep sigh of relief. This was not a dream.

**End of Chapter Three**

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AUTHOR'S NOTE – Phew, that chapter was harder to write than I thought. He, he, I sure teased you, letting you wait so long for the call to happen. But Ariadne sure had a lot of other things on her to-do-list. Well now, just a little explaining: The buzzing sound mentioned at the end of her dream is, of course, the vibration of her cell phone, slowed down. And the chapter's title was pretty random, I kinda wanted to use a title referring to Arthur's totem, so there you go. Hope you liked it. Please tell me how I'm doing and be patient for the release of the next chapter. I'm working as fast as I can. See you around!


	4. Meeting the Point Man

AUTHOR'S NOTE – I'm really flattered by all those who added my fanfic to their Favorite Stories and/or their Story Alerts. Thank you so much! I was also very glad about the reviews I received on my last chapter. I would appreciate it even more, if those who decided to add my story to their Favorites and/or Alerts left some comments as well. I'd love to hear what you like about this story and why you added it to your Favorites/Alerts. Just saying. Now, let's get to the chapter…

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**Chapter Four: Meeting the Point Man**

Monday came sooner than expected. But however fast time had passed until then, on that particular day, minutes felt like hours to Ariadne. She did manage to pay attention at college, but the tension she felt inside of her was almost unbearable. Actually, she was thankful for all the time she could spend listening to lectures that day, as they proved to be an effective distraction from her agonizing thoughts.

Not all of the thoughts crossing her mind that day were agonizing, though. At one point, for instance, she remembered the events of the weekend. She and Marie had gone out again, and this time, Ariadne had not failed to keep her drinking under control. It had not been that hard for her to avoid consuming too much alcohol, as she had kept reminding herself of her most recent experience. Nevertheless, she had been able to take her mind off her worries and enjoy herself that evening. Remembering how much fun it had been, Ariadne took a mental note to start going out again more often, whenever she would get the next chance.

But then, there were her thoughts about meeting Arthur that day. On the one hand, she was looking forward to seeing him again, of course. But on the other hand, she felt a little anxious about this meeting and quite uncertain about how to behave around him. What if she got nervous again, like she did when she called him a few days ago? What if she did not know what to say to him? Or what if she asked him about the things she wanted to know at the wrong time? Thousands of questions popped up in her head, waiting to be answered.

_Is he really going to meet me _here_?_ That question automatically crossed her mind when she walked out of the auditorium after her last lecture at four. Half-expecting to see him standing just outside the lecture hall, Ariadne carefully inspected her surroundings once she had entered the hallway. As she slowly made a turn to the left, heading for the exit, she heard a familiar voice behind her: "Ari!"

It was Marie who had spotted her and was now approaching with a smile. Ariadne waited for her friend to arrive at her side, then replied in a slightly surprised tone: "Oh, hey, Marie. Did you have a lecture now, too?"

Marie frowned for a few seconds, before she answered: "No, I was in the library until now. I was working for a paper, I did tell you."

"Oh, yeah, I remember now," Ariadne said as they started walking towards the exit together. "So, did you find the book you needed?"

"Yes, I did, but I 'ave not come very far." After a few seconds, Marie asked, smiling brightly: "Do you 'ave time to go to the café with me now?"

As Ariadne felt her heart rate increase, she unconsciously slowed down her pace, almost stopping. She looked at the ground for a moment, then replied, slightly embarrassed: "Um, I'm… I'm sorry, Marie, but I… can't."

At that, Marie stopped and stared at her in disbelief, causing Ariadne to come to a stop next to her. "Oh, but why not?" The French girl asked with disappointment in her voice. "You don't want to go to the café? Or do you 'ave plans?"

"Actually…" Ariadne began, not exactly knowing how to answer that question. "Yeah, actually, I'm… meeting someone." As soon as the words had been spoken, Ariadne felt her cheeks start glowing. _Dammit!_

Her friend noticed the redness in her face and started grinning: "Oh, Ari, why did you not tell me? So, 'ho are you meeting?"

Trying not to show her embarrassment, Ariadne returned the grin, stating: "It's not like that, Marie. Just someone I worked with."

Looking a little confused, Marie nodded: "Oh, okay. Then this must be very important for you. I understand that."

"Thanks, Marie," Ariadne replied with a smile. "Don't worry, we can go to the café another time."

Now, they went on down the hallway, towards the exit. Marie started talking about her paper, but Ariadne hardly managed to listen. She was busy thinking about what she was going to do if Arthur really was waiting for her outside. With every step she took, she felt the tension inside of her grow. Soon, the two college girls came out of the building on this sunny day, at the top of the stairs leading down to the inner courtyard of the college.

And then, she spotted him. Standing right next to one of the stone pillars framing the entrance to the inner courtyard, there was Arthur, watching the students walk out of the building, his hair gelled back, his hands in the pockets of his grey coat, wearing matching grey pants, shiny black shoes and a white button-up shirt with thin blue stripes. He appeared pretty much the way she remembered him, except for one thing.

_Gosh, I didn't remember him to be _that _good-looking._ Within the few seconds it had taken her to notice him, Ariadne's heart had been beating countless times. Unconsciously, she had stopped on top of the stairs, reaching into one of her pant pockets, feeling for her totem which she had decided to carry along that day. If she were to work with Arthur again, in that kind of business, it would be better to be safe than sorry, she had figured. At that very moment, she could safely say that she was not dreaming.

When those few seconds, that had seemed like at least one minute to her, had passed, Ariadne snapped out of it, pulling her hand out of her pocket again, almost rushing forward to catch up with Marie, who was already walking down the stairs and looked back at her questioningly. Trying to somehow prevent her friend from seeing Arthur, Ariadne came to a stop right on the step below her and addressed her: "Marie, hold on."

"What is it, Ari?" her friend asked in a confused way.

"Um…" _Well, good going…!_ She had no idea what to say or why she was trying to distract Marie at all. Would it be that bad if Marie got to know Arthur? Probably not, but it might cause her to ask questions Ariadne did not feel like answering. Trying to improvise, she said: "Uh,… I'm sorry, Marie, I don't think I got that. What were you saying before?"

Still slightly confused, Marie replied: "Uh, I said if I 'urry, I can get my paper done before the weekend, and then I…" Her gaze trailed off as she spoke, and all of a sudden, she fixed it upon a certain man standing a few feet behind Ariadne. "Mon Dieu…" she then whispered.

Ariadne did not have to turn her head to know who she had just spotted. Soon, her friend was leaning forward to her a bit, slightly motioning her head into Arthur's direction, talking in a low voice: "Ari, do you see that man?"

Automatically, Ariadne now turned her head to look at Arthur, meeting his gaze. She quickly turned back to Marie, carefully replying: "Yes…"

Still in a whisper, Marie stated: "I think 'e is looking at you."

In a voice as nonchalant as she could manage, Ariadne retorted: "So?"

Her friend was silent for a few seconds, then her eyes went wide and she gasped: "Are you meeting _'im_? Oh, Ari, this is fantastique!"

"Marie…" she tried to calm down her friend, secretly wondering whether or not Arthur was standing within ear-shot. "Like I said, it's not like that. But I really have to go now."

"Sure, sure," Marie replied, giving her a cheeky grin. "Go on, 'ave fun! And tell me all tomorrow."

Walking down the stairs, Ariadne said with a weak smile: "Bye, Marie."

As she had left the stairs behind, she carefully turned her head to look at Marie one last time, noticing she was still standing there, grinning. Ariadne turned back, slightly shaking her head, then started walking across the courtyard to where Arthur was standing. He was still standing there like a statue, not having moved an inch, still looking at her. The more she closed the distance between them, the more she became aware of her increasing heart rate. But for some reason, it did not bother her, as she also noticed the tension that she had felt the whole time disappear. This gave her a more self-confident feeling, something she had been missing completely during her phone call with him and that now caused her to form a subtle smile on her lips as she approached him.

Once she had come to a stop in front of him, Arthur returned the smile as he greeted her: "Hey."

"Hello," she replied. For a few moments, they were just standing there, looking into each other's eyes. Eventually, Ariadne felt like she might be weirding him out, so she took her gaze off his eyes, clearing her throat before randomly asking: "How long have you been waiting?"

"Not long," he replied casually, then motioned his head, saying: "Let's go."

As soon as he had said that, he started walking out of the courtyard, so Ariadne got going, trying to keep up with his fast pace. Some of the students around her were giving them strange looks, or at least she thought they did. But as soon as they had left the college and turned to the left, she decided not to bother anyone else. As she was walking about a half step behind Arthur, she addressed him: "So, where are we headed?"

He turned his head as he went on. "Some place to sit down and talk," was his simple reply.

-xXOXx-

That "place to sit down and talk" turned out to be a café a few blocks away from the college. It was not like the little café just down the street where Ariadne and Marie often went after college, which actually bore a slight resemblance to the café from her first shared dream with Cobb. The café Arthur had led her to seemed more noble – and probably more expensive as well –, with elegant black upholstered chairs and rectangular glass tables instead of wicker chairs and round tables, and a real terrace built for the café. To Ariadne, it simply seemed like the type of café Arthur would go to.

They had been sitting on the terrace of the café for several minutes now, Arthur to her right around the corner of the rectangular table. While he had already finished half his cup of black coffee, Ariadne was still stirring her teaspoon in the cup of cappuccino in front of her, watching the ever-changing white and brown patterns appear in the cream on top of it, feeling her heart beat slower than before, but still pretty fast. At first, she had looked up at Arthur every once in a while expectantly, pondering if she should speak up first, but she had no idea what to say. Finally, Arthur started by asking: "So, is there anything you wanna know first?"

Ariadne stopped stirring the teaspoon and looked up at him in a surprised way. Desperately trying to hide the smirk forming on her lips, she thought: _Oh, you bet there is!_ But then, it occurred to her what he was probably talking about, so she carefully asked back: "You mean, about the job?"

"Yeah," he said, half-smiling.

Ariadne thought for a second or two, finally took a first sip of her cappuccino, then inquired: "Well, maybe tell me about who the mark is?"

"Albert De Vos, an accountant working for a French tycoon who has come up with a new idea for the company's budgetary planning," he replied in a lower voice than before.

"So, you have to steal this idea?" It was actually more of a statement than a question.

"Right," was his reply, emphasized by a subtle nod.

"Who are you working with on this job?" she wanted to know then. "Eames?"

At that, Arthur pulled a face, which almost caused Ariadne to chuckle. Sounding just a bit offended, he stated: "I wouldn't work with Eames voluntarily." Then, his expression turned back to normal, and he added: "No, I'm working with an extractor named Eric. We're gonna meet him at five."

Automatically, Ariadne checked her watch, noticing they still had about half an hour left until then. But as she did not know when they would have to get going to be on time, she inquired: "Where will we meet him?"

"His cousin owns a garage a few blocks from here," Arthur explained. "He's out of town right now, so we can work there. Eric has the keys."

Out of curiosity, she asked: "Have you worked with him before?"

"No, but he's said to be almost as good an extractor as Cobb used to be," he answered.

Ariadne nodded slightly, then they both took another sip from their respective cups. After a few seconds of silence, Arthur spoke up again: "Did you dream lately?"

At that, she gave him a questioning look, caught a little off guard. She would not have expected such a question – but then again, dreams were his business. Thinking back to that one dream about the bridge she had been having a few nights ago, Ariadne almost started blushing. Carefully, she replied: "I'm… I'm not sure. Maybe once, I don't remember."

A subtle smile appeared on his lips. "That's normal," he explained. "After the first job, you can hardly remember any of your dreams. Then after a while, you might start having lucid dreams, and eventually, shared dreaming will become the only way for you to dream."

Ariadne slowly nodded as she took another sip of her cappuccino.

-xXOXx-

They had been sitting in the café for another ten or fifteen minutes, exchanging their thoughts about dreams and dream-sharing, then drank up, and Arthur paid for both of them. On their way to the garage, neither of them had been talking. All the while, Ariadne could not help but wonder whether Arthur would have been trying to find her anyways, him being in Paris and in need of an architect. She decided not to bring up that question right now, though.

As they arrived at the one-story flat roof building, Arthur pulled a bunch of keys out of his pocket, soon finding the right one to unlock the door. Once inside, they beheld a small entrance hall with a counter and a door behind it that said "Employees only" (in French, of course). To the right, there was another door, standing open, allowing access to the garage itself. After locking the entrance door from the inside and placing the keys on the counter, Arthur led Ariadne into the garage.

The spacious room currently contained two cars, but would be able to hold two or three more. In the back, there was another door, probably leading to a storeroom, and right in the middle, three folding tables, three stools and – a little more to the side –, three removed car seats had been set up. There was a black-haired man wearing a deep red button-up shirt and black pants standing in front of one of the tables, inspecting a certain kind of steel suitcase, his back turned towards them. As the two of them approached, he turned around and nodded at Arthur, saying: "Arthur. So, we finally meet."

Once they had come to a stop in front of him, Arthur offered his hand, smiling politely: "Hi, Eric." After they had shaken hands, Arthur extended his towards Ariadne in an introducing manner, saying: "And this is Ariadne, our architect."

At that, Eric turned his head to look at her. The moment his gaze met hers, Ariadne suddenly felt a chill run through her. She could not help but feel intimidated by his appearance. Eric was about as tall as Arthur, his build a little more muscular, his hair short, all black, parted in the middle and gelled to the sides, some strands sticking up a bit. He had a thin moustache and a triangular goatee, and his eyes were blue like ice. To Ariadne, his gaze felt just as cold. At the same time, his appearance reminded her of a creature from a fiery realm down below. _Just add horns, goat legs and a tail…_ Shoving the thought aside, Ariadne formed a polite smile on her face, offered her hand and uttered: "Nice to meet you, Eric."

Looking at her as if she was an insect crawling on the floor, he shook her hand using a firm, nearly squeezing grip. "Charmed," he almost spat out.

As Ariadne drew back her slightly aching hand, Eric immediately turned to Arthur again, wearing an irritated look. With arms akimbo, he asked: "So, have you tracked down De Vos?"

"Yeah, he'll be in London this week, at a seminar," Arthur replied. "He's flying back to Paris on Sunday morning, that's where we can get to him."

"All arranged?" Eric inquired.

Arthur confirmed by nodding his head. Then he turned to Ariadne: "Think you can design two dream levels until Saturday?" His eyes conveyed confidence and concern at the same time.

Ariadne thought for a few moments. _That really isn't much time, and I don't want to stay out of college for the job, either. But then again, this time I won't need all that training first. I guess I can make it._ Aloud, she said, nodding her head: "Sure, I can do that."

At that, Arthur's face lit up, while Eric's darkened. With a frown, the Extractor turned to point at one of the folding tables and a stool behind him, saying: "Well,… Ariadne,… why don't you start setting up your workplace? Arthur, tell me what you got on De Vos."

As he motioned Arthur towards his table, Ariadne could not help but feel a bit lost.

-xXOXx-

After setting up her workplace, Ariadne had gone to the bathroom, not only to follow the call of nature, but also to try and recollect her thoughts. The whole time, Eric's very presence and his efforts to draw Arthur's attention away from her made her feel uncomfortable. Determined to stand up for herself, she was about to return to the garage, but stopped, when she suddenly heard Eric's voice: "Seriously, Arthur, you've got to be kidding me!"

Hiding behind the door, she listened carefully to the conversation between the two men. "Trust me, she's very talented. Like I said, I've worked with her before," was Arthur's reply.

"Oh yeah, when? Were you her tutor when she was in high school?" Eric retorted in a condescending manner.

At that, Arthur's voice rapidly changed in volume, he was almost shouting: "Now listen to me, Eric, she's one of the best – if not _the_ best architect I have seen in a long time. She designed three dream levels for a successful inception."

"A successful inception?" Eric inquired, disbelief resonating in every single word.

With emphasis, Arthur replied: "Robert Fischer splitting up his father's company…"

There were a few seconds of silence. Then, an astonished Eric exclaimed: "No… way…"

"So, will you stop doubting her?" Arthur asked him.

After a few more moments of silence, she heard Eric sigh, then speak in a lower voice than before, as if he was expecting her to show up any second: "Alright, fine. I'll give her a chance. Hope your little architect is worth the money we have to share with her."

"That and much more."

This last statement made by Arthur caused Ariadne to smile to herself, but also to start wondering about its exact meaning.

**End of Chapter Four**

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AUTHOR'S NOTE – My chapters are getting longer every time, it seems. Happens all the time. I just didn't expect the first part to become that long, so I tried to keep the other parts shorter, hope they didn't feel too rushed. Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. What do you think about my original characters, i.e. about Marie, introduced in Chapter Two, and now Eric? I don't know why I called this guy Eric, to be honest. It was the first name that popped into my head, and it kinda got stuck there. I thought it might seem unoriginal, starting with "E", like "Eames" and "Extractor". But it kinda suits him. And even less original, this chapter's title. I just couldn't come up with anything else. But oh well. The name De Vos was stolen from a penpal of mine, by the way. Now, please tell me what you think in a review, stay tuned and be patient for the next chapter.


	5. The New Dream Team

AUTHOR'S NOTE – Sorry for not updating earlier, this chapter took way longer than I expected! Thanks for the reviews on my last chapter – I always love hearing from my readers! Keep them coming, please! Now, this chapter might justify my choice of rating (T) and second genre (Drama) a bit more. Enjoy (and please excuse the lame chapter title)!

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**Chapter Five: The New Dream Team**

From the moment Ariadne reentered the garage, Eric's behavior towards her changed completely. As she was about to return to her table, which she had set up a few feet away from where he and Arthur were standing, looking at them only for a brief moment, Eric called her over to join them and hear the information Arthur was giving him about the mark. The condescension his eyes and voice had expressed earlier was almost completely gone. While she was walking over to them, she could not help but wonder whether they had noticed that she had been overhearing their conversation before.

Arthur was standing at the head of the table, with a notebook set up in front of him and his hands placed next to it, while Eric was standing to his left, around the corner of the table, propping his elbows on its surface. Ariadne decided to stand on the other side, facing Eric. She still did not feel entirely comfortable around him, but she figured it would be better not to show that and to stop worrying about it. Besides, having overheard their conversation, she was certain that she could count on Arthur, in case Eric showed his condescending behavior towards her again.

In a quite pleasant tone, Eric suggested, alternating his glance between them: "Alright, Arthur, why don't you start from the top? And, Ariadne, if you have any questions, feel free to ask."

Ariadne replied with a slight nod of her head, which was returned by Arthur, before he began, looking up from the screen at the others every once in a while: "Like I already mentioned, De Vos will be at a seminar in London this week, so he might modify his idea in the course of the week. That's why the job should be done during his flight back. De Vos himself is not familiar with the concepts of dream-sharing and extraction, but some of his co-workers are."

"That means, if they have shared this information with him, his subconscious might be prepared," Eric deduced.

"Prepared as in, suspicious, but not trained," Arthur explained. "His projections won't be militarized, but they'll be likely to notice any foreign access to his mind rather quickly and start looking for the dreamer."

Although he had been addressing Eric, before he had finished, Arthur's head turned to look at Ariadne, with the slightest trace of a smile on his lips. In response, Ariadne blinked and gave him a questioning look, secretly wondering if he was thinking about the same particular situation from the Fischer job that was coming to her mind right now. But before she could even start pondering that question, Eric spoke up again: "So, we need some kind of distraction in the design of the first dream level itself. Something that will make him feel comfortable in the dream, something familiar."

The moment she heard the word "distraction", Ariadne immediately associated it with the abilities of a forger, like Eames. But thinking about what Eric had just said a little longer, she came to a different conclusion, carefully asking: "Like, designing a dream that reflects his personal interests or memories?"

"Something like that, yes," Eric replied, looking at her somewhat impressed. He then turned to Arthur again: "So, let's hear about his personal interests."

The knowing smile appearing on Eric's lips told her he had already heard that information from Arthur and was in some way amused by it. Looking at her, Arthur stated in his nonchalant manner: "De Vos has a weakness for the Moulin Rouge."

Alternating her glance between the two men, she could not help but feel the urge to utter some kind of a feminist statement, but she pushed those thoughts aside quickly. Instead, she formed a weak smile on her lips and inquired: "So, you want me to design the Moulin Rouge for the dream?"

"Not _the_ Moulin Rouge, of course," Arthur replied.

"Something similar should do," Eric added with a smirk. "Like, some kind of nightclub or brothel."

Ariadne's weak smile turned into a grimace as she looked at him. _Seriously, shouldn't I have seen this sort of thing coming, working with men in a line of business dealing with something as intimate as dreams? It's a near-miracle nothing like that came up during the Fischer job. Except maybe for "Lady Eames"… _Shaking her head a little as if to shake off these thoughts, she tried to seem as nonchalant about the issue as possible and change the subject: "Okay, and what about the second dream level?"

Eric's expression turned back to neutral as he pondered, addressing Arthur: "We'll need something secure in the design of that level, some place where his secret budgetary planning ideas would seem to belong…"

Arthur looked at his notebook, as if he was looking for something right there. When he did not seem to find anything for a while, Ariadne started pondering the task herself. Thinking back to her training preceding the inception job, something came to her mind. "Maybe a bank vault?" she carefully suggested.

They both looked at her immediately, and Eric uttered in a surprised voice: "You know, that does sound like a suitable place. Very good, yeah."

With a subtle smile and nod, Arthur expressed his approval, which caused Ariadne to smile herself. Something about the look in his eyes made her feel extraordinarily proud and content. Those were not the only feelings she was becoming aware of at that moment. But before she could entirely register them, her attention was drawn away by Eric who said: "Alright, then. Ariadne, if you don't have any more questions right now, you can get to work."

Caught a little off guard, Ariadne shook her head at him, signaling she had no more questions.

-xXOXx-

Ariadne had been working on her designs until about 10 p.m. That was when Arthur went up to her and suggested to call it a day. Having decided not to neglect college during this job, she figured it would be a not too bad idea to avoid getting home that late. But she did not leave the garage without making sure to fix a time for her to join them after college the next day.

Having slept much better than all those other nights within the past few weeks, Ariadne felt full of energy and enthusiasm on the next morning. When she arrived at college, she could not help but look forward to the end of her last lecture, for then she would go to the garage to work on her dream designs again. But at the same time, she had no problem listening to her professors, like she used to in the past few weeks, and she was curious about what they would teach in their lectures. Perhaps she would even hear something useful, something that would inspire her for her work.

As she sat down in one of the lecture halls, waiting for her lecture to begin, she noticed Marie placing herself on the spot right next to her. It was one of the few lectures they attended together, so Ariadne was not surprised at her friend's arrival. "Hi, Marie," she greeted her.

"Salut, Ari," her friend replied smiling, placing her bag on the floor, next to her feet. As she unpacked a notepad and a pen and put them on the desk in front of her, she fixed her gaze upon Ariadne, formed a cheeky grin on her lips and finally asked, once she was sitting upright again: "So, 'ow was your date?"

"Marie…" Ariadne said in a warning tone. "I told you, I wasn't dating, I was _working_."

Marie's grin did not fade as she retorted: "Alright, so, 'ow was your _work_?"

Ariadne returned a weak smile for a brief moment, then casually replied, looking at her notepad lying in front of her as if to read something on it: "Good. Very interesting. I really like this job."

"Is it… 'top secret' again?" Marie asked, gesturing quotation marks in front of her friend's face.

Ariadne sighed and turned her head to look at her again. Back when she had joined Cobb's team for the Fischer job, she knew she could not tell anyone about what she was doing. But having stayed out of college, with Professor Miles' exemption, Marie had soon started questioning her about her job, so Ariadne had told her she was designing some "top secret project" and was not allowed to talk about it. At first, Marie had reacted with amazement, maybe even a little envy. But now, it seemed like she was nothing but amused about her friend's behavior. Finally, Ariadne answered, sounding slightly amused herself: "Well, actually, yes. I can't tell you anything about it, sorry."

In response, Marie shrugged, saying: "Alright, you don't 'ave to tell me about the job." Then, she leaned in a little closer and whispered, with a bright smile on her lips: "But you can tell me about your good-looking colleague, can't you?"

Ariadne blinked and stared at her for a few moments, then looked down at her notepad and up at the lectern, secretly begging for the professor to arrive to give her an excuse for ending this conversation. When she did not answer for a while, Marie added in a low voice: "Come on, tell me, 'ow is 'e?"

Waiting for another few seconds for the professor to show up, Ariadne finally turned her head to look at Marie, but avoided her eyes, replying in a voice as nonchalant as she could manage: "He's nice."

"Do you like working with 'im?" her friend asked curiously.

At that moment, the professor entered the lecture hall. A little distracted, Ariadne replied, half-smiling: "Yeah."

At that, Marie leaned back, wearing a knowing smile on her lips.

-xXOXx-

The next few days went by pretty fast, with Ariadne attending her lectures and working with Arthur and Eric at the garage, as if she had been doing nothing else for years. In the course of the week, she had learned a few more details about Albert De Vos and his life – both professional and private –, and she had come along well designing the two dream levels for the extraction job. When she got home on Thursday night, she even continued to work on some last details for another two hours before going to bed. That way, on Friday, not long after having arrived at the garage, she was ready to show her designs to Arthur and Eric.

They both inspected her sketches, layouts and three-dimensional paper models with interest and amazement. Judging by his comments on her work, Eric appeared to be profoundly surprised and impressed by what the young architect had accomplished in such a short time. Arthur was a bit more reserved about giving comments, but his approving smiles and nods told her that he had not expected anything less. Ariadne could not help but feel flattered by his non-verbal praise.

Now, she was to teach the details of the dream levels to their respective dreamers. Considering this task, Ariadne suddenly became aware of some kind of tension welling up inside of her. As soon as she noticed this feeling, she knew what had caused it. It was the realization that Arthur would be the dreamer of the first level – the "Moulin Rouge level", as she secretly called it. Feeling her heart rate increase rapidly, she tried to calm down, telling herself: _Okay…, this has nothing to do with me… or him, for that matter. It's just a dream design, based on the subject's personal interests. No big deal._

After showing Arthur the details of the dream's layout on paper so he could memorize them, it was time for the two of them to share his interpretation of the dream. They lay back in two of the removed car seats standing around, taking a comfortable position and attached themselves to the PASIV device. As soon as they were ready, Eric pressed the button, sending them into Arthur's dream…

-xXOXx-

Time expanded, as reality faded away. The darkness surrounding her in her mind's eye started disappearing. Soon, Ariadne no longer felt the upholstery of the car seat softly pressing against her, but became aware of herself standing in the middle of a large faintly-lit room without any windows. Looking up from the wine-red carpet on the floor, she beheld about six dozens of round glass tables and an appropriate number of chairs neatly arranged all about her. Turning around, a huge T-shaped stage, framed by red velvet curtains, came into view in the back of the room, with a pole coming out of the front part of the stage, reaching up all the way to the high ceiling. As her gaze wandered up and down that pole, she noticed the only other person in this room, in the corner of her eyes, walking about next to the stage: Arthur.

Shaking her head in order to keep it clear and projection-free, she watched him wander with the sleeves of his royal blue shirt rolled up and his hands in the pockets of his beige pants, waiting for him to notice her, before she cleared her throat and carefully addressed him: "So…, this is the, um… stage."

Arthur now approached her, replying: "Yeah. It's where we start in the maze, right?"

Caught a little off guard, it took her a few seconds before she managed to confirm: "Right."

He came to a stop in front of her, forming a subtle smile on his face. After a while, Arthur took his eyes off her, slowly turning his head to the left, without a change in expression. Ariadne followed his gaze, catching sight of the stage once more. Silently gulping, she could not help but wonder about how to interpret this series of looks.

Once he turned his head back to look at her, Ariadne automatically tried to avoid his gaze. Motioning her head into the direction of a doorway at the far end of the room, opposing the stage, she suggested, in a slightly nervous manner: "Well, let's… move on."

The next room they entered was a little lower, with a bar and some bar stools in the middle of it, and several rectangular glass tables with chairs set up all along the walls. Behind the bar, on the opposite wall, was another doorway. Just like in the room they just left, everything appeared to be in perfect symmetry. Slowly walking across the room, the Point Man and the Architect inspected their surroundings, exchanging but a few words and glances.

They proceeded through the rest of the maze in the same fashion, starting with an entrance hall and a staircase leading up to a series of private rooms. At one point or another, they discussed the possibility of adding paradoxical staircases or other features. After about fifty minutes had passed within the dream, Arthur and Ariadne reached the end of the maze, one of the private rooms. On their way there, they had not inspected but a couple of those rooms, which were all similar in design – based on Ariadne's designs, of course –, but varied in ambience, reflecting different types of erotic preferences. The variation of the rooms was one of the features Arthur had suggested to use – to provide distractions for various parts of the subject's subconscious, as he explained. Ariadne could not help but feel slightly irritated by this, forcing herself to focus her thoughts by instructing herself: _Remember, Ariadne, you're only the architect. You're not going to be a part of this one._

As Arthur opened the door at the end of the maze, they beheld a room whose ambience was entirely devoted to tiger skin – reflecting De Vos' personal preferences, as had shown in the research. This was the place where De Vos was supposed to end up being pulled into another dream. While Arthur stepped inside the room, taking a closer look at the furnishings and the bathroom to find a good spot to hide the PASIV device, Ariadne remained standing in the doorframe, watching him walk about the room. After a while, she cleared her throat and carefully inquired: "So, is there… anything else you'd want to change about this level?"

Arthur turned to look at her and replied: "No, I think it's going to work just fine. And the maze came out great. Perfect for our needs."

As he finished, he gave her a warm smile, which caused Ariadne to lower her eyes and shrug in a modest manner. After a few moments, she eyed the room once more, then asked him: "Okay, then, I'm gonna teach the second dream level to Eric now, right?"

"No need to," he stated. "You're the dreamer of that level."

At that, Ariadne gaped and stared at him, totally dumbfounded. Those words ran her over like a car on the street, leaving her speechless for several moments. Finally, she managed to force out: "Wha-… Wait, I'm what? When… when were you going to tell me that?"

Appearing slightly surprised by her reaction, he replied carefully: "I… thought that was clear."

"I had no idea," Ariadne scoffed. "I assumed Eric was going to be the dreamer of the second level."

"No, the Extractor's never the dreamer," Arthur said plainly.

A little amused, Ariadne retorted: "Oh, I thought that was just Cobb."

"That's simply because, if the Extractor is caught stealing an idea, he'll be likely to become the first suspect in the subject's search for the dreamer," he explained.

Ariadne pondered this for a few moments, then slightly nodded, saying: "Okay, that makes sense." Not much later, she slightly shook her head in disbelief, stating: "But… still, you could have explained that to me a little earlier. I didn't think I'd be coming into the field again this time."

That caused Arthur to frown, asking in a slightly concerned voice: "I hope that's not going to be a problem for you?"

Suddenly, the slow, blaring sound of trombones came in. It was the musical countdown, signaling the approaching end of their shared dream. As they both looked up at the ceiling, as if watching the last few dream minutes pass by, Ariadne pondered: _Last time, I didn't know I'd be coming along at first, either. But it was my own decision to join them in the job. This is different. This time, I'm supposed to be a dreamer in the actual job, something I've never done before. Arthur must have a great deal of confidence in my abilities, to assign a task as important as this one to me. And I have to admit, I wouldn't mind creating the actual dream myself… and getting to spend a little more time with him. Real or dream time…_

Finally, she answered his question through the blaring sounds, with a subtle smile on her lips: "Not really. No, I don't think that's gonna be a problem."

-xXOXx-

In the course of the evening, the team discussed a few more details of their plan for the extraction job, like the use of kicks, and Ariadne had the opportunity to practice dreaming the second level, as the team tried a few test runs of their job together. The three of them also fixed a time to meet up at the garage the next day, as they had to catch a plane to London that evening. The flight had already been booked, as well as three rooms in a hotel near the airport in London, so they would not have any trouble attending De Vos' flight back to Paris on Sunday morning. At one point, Ariadne asked about how they had managed to arrange all of that. It turned out that the funds for this extraction job were nothing else than Arthur's share of the Fischer job he had received from Saito.

That night, Ariadne came back to her apartment no earlier than twenty minutes to midnight. A few minutes after her arrival, she decided to check her cell phone, which had been muted, lying in her bag the whole evening. Looking at the display, she noticed she had indeed missed a few calls – all of them made by Marie. As the last call had only come in about ten minutes ago, she figured it might be worth trying to call her back right now.

After a few rings, Marie answered her phone, nearly shouting through some noise in the background that sounded like disco music: "Ari, where 'ave you been the 'ole time? I tried to reach you!"

"Yeah, I noticed that," Ariadne replied, trying not to talk in a too loud voice. "Sorry, Marie, I know I said I'll join you later, but I've been working until now."

"Working? Friday night? Are you fooling me?" her friend asked, her voice pitched in disbelief. "You're missing all the fun, Ari!"

"I don't mind. Maybe another time, okay?" was Ariadne's suggestion.

"So, 'ow about tomorrow night?" Marie inquired.

Ariadne hesitated for a moment, then sighed: "I'm so sorry, but… I'll be working the whole weekend."

Marie remained silent. Ariadne tried asking _Hello? Marie?_ a few times, waiting for her friend to say something, but she only noticed the background noise slowly fading away. Probably, her friend was looking for a better place to talk on the phone. After a few more seconds, she heard Marie sigh: "Alright, Ari, this 'as been worrying me the 'ole week. I think you are really obsessed with this 'top secret' job. You 'ave to tell me one thing…" She paused, then asked with emphasis, but in a lower voice: "What 'as 'appened between you and that man from your work?"

At that, Ariadne gasped, considering just which of all possible answers to that question her friend was assuming. In her perplexity, she replied without thinking: "Marie, this has nothing to do with Arthur _or_ what happened!" The very next moment, she realized what she had just said and regretted not having thought a little more before speaking.

"So, 'e 'as a name…" Ariadne could literally hear her friend's cheeky grin through the phone. But then, Marie sounded very serious, when she said: "And I _knew_ something 'appened. Please, Ari, tell me. I know it's worrying you."

Ariadne opened her mouth to retort something, but then let out a deep sigh. There was no more use in denying or making up lies. Marie was a very empathetic person, especially around people she cared about. She would find out sooner or later. _I just don't know how to explain that without mentioning shared dreams…_

Finally, in a trembling voice, Ariadne tried: "Alright,… see, this one time we were working together,… uh, I don't know, we kinda… we kissed. But… nothing happened ever since."

"Oh, I understand," Marie replied softly. "Ari, I can come over right now, if you want to talk. 'ow would you like that?"

**End of Chapter Five**

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE – This chapter was incredibly hard to write, but at the same time, my ideas for it were running wild like never before. I hope you enjoyed it. Well, I wasn't sure about the "teaching the levels to the dreamers" part, because in the movie, we only saw Ariadne showing the layouts to them, and then Ariadne and the respective dreamer attached to the PASIV device. First, I thought, Ariadne would be the dreamer during these "lessons", but somehow, it made more sense to me if the future dreamer of the level could practice the dream right away and add features themselves, if they want (like Eames added something to his level). The "Extractor never being the dreamer" thing was made up by me. I thought that would make sense, don't know if Mr. Nolan would agree. Well, please tell me what you think in a review. And by the way, I uploaded sketches of Marie and Eric and linked to them in the respective chapters of their first appearance on my deviantART account. Go check them out. See you around!


	6. Cornered in the Mind

AUTHOR'S NOTE – Thank you all for reading, reviewing and fav'ing! I really appreciate it, I always love to hear what people think about my fanfics. But now, let's get straight to the chapter… Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Six: Cornered in the Mind**

At first, Ariadne still was not sure whether it was a good idea to talk about Arthur. But either way, she was thankful for having a friend like Marie, who was ready to come over and listen to her in the middle of the night. About half an hour after their talk on the phone, they were sitting on Ariadne's crimson red couch, Marie still in one of her favorite nightclub outfits – a tight sleeveless glitter top, white jeans with a stylish silver belt, silver bangles and silver hoop earrings – and Ariadne already in her pyjamas, cross-legged, with one of the red pillows on her lap, her arms and her gaze resting on it. Neither of them had said a word for a few minutes, since they had placed themselves on the couch.

Finally, Ariadne slightly looked up from her pillow, letting out a sigh. "I don't even know where to start," she stated.

Forming a smile on her lips, tilting her head a little to meet her friend's gaze, Marie suggested: "Tell me about the kiss."

Weakly returning the smile, Ariadne lifted her head a little more, but still looked into nothingness, rather than at her friend, while she recalled: "Well, it was no… French kiss. It was a brief… soft,… warm… touch of our lips. It was… like a dream." In her thoughts, she dropped the word "like".

Marie's smile seemed to become brighter with every word her friend said. "And 'ho kissed 'ho? 'ow did it 'appen?" she asked.

At that, Ariadne chuckled a little, replying: "You know, that's funny… I don't remember. I don't know when or how it happened, or who initiated the kiss. There's… a few things I don't really remember."

Frowning a little, Marie inquired: "Were you drunk?"

"No!" Ariadne protested, now looking at her friend directly. "We were working. It's just that…" She paused, thinking about how to explain her vague memories, without telling her friend about the concept of dream-sharing. _This is making it all _so_ complicated…_

As she started noticing Marie's expectant look, she simply answered: "It just… happened so fast." That was not even a lie, as what had happened within that dream, had probably taken less than one second in reality.

In response, Marie nodded and asked after a while: "And what 'appened after the kiss?"

Looking into the air again, Ariadne shrugged, saying: "Well, nothing. We went back to work, and… neither of us mentioned that kiss again."

When she didn't continue, Marie tried: "But now you're working together again?"

"Yeah, I… I found out his number, I called him,… and it just so happened that he offered me another job," Ariadne summed up.

"But that wasn't why you were calling 'im?" Marie deduced.

"No, I… actually, I only wanted to call him, because… I wanted to know what that kiss meant. But I couldn't just ask him," she explained. "And the thing is, Marie,… at first, I only wanted to know _if_ it meant something." She let out a deep sigh, before she continued, lowering her eyes: "Now, I don't know what I'll do, if he tells me it didn't mean anything."

Marie looked at her with a worried, yet understanding expression. "I'm sure it meant something, Ari," she sincerely told her. "I saw 'ow 'e looked at you."

"Then, why didn't he do _anything_ to show me he really means it ever since?" Ariadne asked, her voice full of uncertainty.

"Maybe 'e is afraid of 'is feelings, because you are working together," Marie suggested.

Ariadne pondered that for a while: _Maybe she's right. I mean, one thing's for sure, Arthur's not the type of guy who shows his feelings openly. And in his line of work, feelings can be very dangerous, too. But is that really the right explanation?_ Aloud, she said: "Could be. But I can't know that for sure."

In an empathetic voice, yet with emphasis, Marie said: "You 'ave to ask 'im."

"I know," Ariadne replied, then added with a suppressed laugh: "But that's easier said than done."

"Sure, it's not easy," her friend confirmed. "But if you want to know, it's the only way."

For a few moments, Ariadne silently looked down at her pillow again, lost in her thoughts. Then, she lifted her head and asked in a low, almost trembling voice: "And what if I don't like the answer I get?"

With a smirk, Marie answered: "Then you send 'im to me, and I'll tell 'im: 'Arthur, you are an idiot for not loving Ari!'"

At that, Ariadne could not help but giggle. "I'm sure you'd do that," she said then, still with a smile. "Thanks, Marie, you're the best!"

They still talked for a little longer, until at about 1:00 a.m., when Ariadne decided it would be better for her to go to bed. But sleep did not come easy to her that night.

-xXOXx-

Saturday almost went by in a flash for Ariadne, or at least parts of it did. The team met up at the garage in the early afternoon. Everything Ariadne did before that, like getting up, packing her stuff, eating lunch and waiting to leave the house, seemed to take place in slow motion to her. But most of what happened after meeting up with Arthur and Eric passed by her like city traffic at rush hour.

They had been taken to the airport in a limousine, waited for their flight to London, then went to their hotel, which was just a five minute walk away from the airport. After checking in and taking their stuff into their respective hotel rooms, they had made another test run of the job in Eric's room. And then, Eric had suggested to spend the evening at the hotel bar. At first, Ariadne had felt a little awkward joining them, as if she was breaking a taboo by spending non-working time with her colleagues. But she had realized pretty soon that the Point Man and the Extractor did not act any different than at work. While they were eating and drinking at the bar, they were mainly talking about their business, like previous jobs, for instance, throwing in some humorous comments only every once in a while. Ariadne had hardly taken part in those conversations, let alone listened very attentively. Her distracting thoughts had kept her mind busy, leaving her unable to do much more than react, if being addressed by one of the two men.

Now, Ariadne was lying in bed at her hotel room, wondering whether she would be able to get any sleep before the wake-up call. But she knew sleep would not come to her, unless she was able to stop those thoughts that shot into her head like bullets, fired out of a gun inside her mind. Thoughts that had hit her several times already in the past few hours.

Would the team split up and go their separate ways after the job again this time?

What if she somehow messed up, down on the second level of the dream?

What would Professor Miles say, if he knew she was working as a dream architect again?

And – most importantly: When would she get the chance to talk to Arthur?

With a sigh, Ariadne rolled over on her other side for what felt like the one hundredth time, unable to take her thoughts off the man lying in the room next to hers…

-xXOXx-

Sooner than expected, it was time to get up and get ready to leave the hotel and catch the plane back to Paris. Sure enough, only four people were sitting in first class: Eric, Arthur, Ariadne and the mark, Albert De Vos, a small man around forty years old with thinning light brown hair. The flight attendant, as instructed, spiked De Vos' glass of water with a mild sedative, so he would be out long enough to be connected to the PASIV device and put under. As the team prepared De Vos and themselves, there were still about fifty minutes of flight time left, which gave them up to ten hours on the first dream level and up to five days on the second level. Plenty of time to carry out a simple extraction.

While applying his IV, Eric glanced back over his shoulder at Arthur and Ariadne, who were placed behind him in two seats on opposite sides of the cabin, and said with a smirk: "Let's hope there won't be any clouds above the Channel."

The only reaction he got was a blank stare from Arthur. As they all finished connecting themselves to the PASIV device and comfortably leaned back in their seats, the Extractor took another glance back at them, asking: "You guys ready?"

"Yeah," the Point Man and the Architect shot back at him simultaneously. At that, both of them automatically turned their heads to exchange a look. The subtle smile and nod from Arthur was the last sight Ariadne caught before the flight attendant pressed the button…

-xXOXx-

The very next moment, Ariadne was standing in the middle of a crowded room, bathed in dim color-changing floodlight, surrounded by talking people and loud music. Her gaze fell upon the stage in the back of the room and immediately caught sight of a woman dressed in red lingerie, dancing around the pole, holding on to it with one hand. After a while, she noticed the song playing was _Lady Marmelade_.

_That's just so cliché,_ Ariadne thought, shaking her head. _I wonder who picks the music within a dream – the dreamer or the subject?_

As she caught herself pondering that question, she secretly reminded herself to keep her head in the game. Soon, Ariadne started scanning the area near the stage with her eyes for a familiar face. _Now, where are the guys?_

After a few seconds, she spotted Arthur as he was walking about, looking all around him. As she did not want to attract any of the projections' attention by signaling him, Ariadne decided it would be better to meet him half-way. So, she started making her way through the people sitting and standing around her as inconspicuously as she could manage.

She had taken but a few steps, when all of a sudden she heard a very familiar voice distinctively address her: "What are you doing here, Ariadne?"

Ariadne turned to gape in shock at the sight of an elderly man sitting at one of the tables, piercing her with a firm gaze through his glasses. Her heart rate increased, her feet froze to the spot, and it took a whole while for her to fully comprehend what was going on. _No way, I didn't…!_

Yet, there it was: A projection of Professor Miles, sitting right in front of her, staring at her with a reproachful gaze, like the impersonation of her superego. Keeping in mind the seriousness of the situation at hand, Ariadne worked up the courage to tell him straight: "Leave me alone, Professor! You're not supposed to be here!" After a pause for effect, she added with emphasis: "You're _not_ real!"

The projection's expression turned even more firm and cold, something Ariadne had not thought to be possible. In response, she squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating very hard on the fact that this was just a projection of her subconscious – and the moment her eyes snapped open again, the seat in front of her was empty. With relief, Ariadne let out the breath she had been holding. But it did not take long until she started feeling uncomfortable again. Suddenly, all the people around her turned their heads to stare at her in bewilderment. _Oh no, what do I do now…?_ Ariadne nearly panicked, her gaze fluttering around like a bird in a cage.

"Hey," came a familiar voice from behind her all of a sudden. With a start, Ariadne turned around to face Arthur, who softly placed a hand on her arm, asking in a concerned voice: "You okay? What happened?"

As he touched her bare skin, Ariadne's gaze automatically fell on his hand. Then, she took a moment to look down at herself, and for the first time since the dream had started, she noticed she was wearing a little black dress, and her hair was partly held back by bobby pins. Looking up at Arthur in his black and white three-piece suit and red tie, she still slightly gaped, finding herself at a loss for words. After a few moments, Arthur cautiously looked around him, slowly taking his hand off her arm. The missing touch brought Ariadne back from her shock, and following his gaze, she noticed the projections had stopped staring at her and continued to look at the stage or talk to each other. Finally, she cleared her throat and carefully replied: "Yeah, I'm okay. I just… got… delayed."

Only after a few seconds, Arthur nodded, still with a hint of concern in his eyes. Secretly hoping he had not seen the projection, Ariadne tried to drop the issue by asking: "Where's Eric?"

"He's already at the bar," Arthur answered, all business again, looking into the direction of the doorway, then back at her. "We should go check if he's gotten a hold of De Vos yet."

Slightly surprised, Ariadne inquired: "De Vos isn't here?" Automatically, she started scanning the crowd behind Arthur with her eyes.

"I haven't seen him," was Arthur's reply. Motioning his head into the direction of the stage behind him, he added with a subtle smirk: "He's probably found something more interesting."

Nodding her head slightly, Ariadne simply responded with a weak smile. Then, by tacit agreement, they decided to move on to the bar. As they stopped a few steps after the doorway to get a good view of the room, they soon spotted De Vos sitting at the bar, flirting with a blonde woman in a tiger-striped dress. Around the corner of the bar sat Eric, wearing brown pants and jacket along with a deep red shirt and grey tie, looking up from his drink at the couple from time to time, fiddling with something in his one hand. As he spotted his colleagues, he gave Arthur a subtle nod, which was returned. At that, Ariadne's confused look wandered from Eric to Arthur, but before she could even start formulating a question, Arthur gently led her to an empty table to their left, in the middle of the row, so they could still discreetly observe what was going on at the bar.

After they had sat down at the table, facing each other, Ariadne carefully leaned over the table and asked in a voice just loud enough for Arthur to hear her over the music: "So, what's the plan?"

Arthur, having leaned over the table a bit as well, replied: "Looks like Eric is working on something. He'll inform us when he needs us."

Half-wondering whether he had derived all that from Eric's simple nod of the head, Ariadne looked down on the table to notice a list of beverages standing on it. She grabbed it and casually looked through it, raising her eyes as she noticed Arthur fixing a curious gaze upon her. Lifting one eyebrow, she explained with a smirk: "Just in case one of the projections comes up and asks what we would like to drink."

After another few seconds of looking through the list, she placed it back on the table and shrugged, uttering in a low voice: "Then again, they might ask for my ID." At that, she noticed that Arthur formed a subtle smile on his lips, but she could not tell if he had heard her comment or what exactly it was that amused him.

They had been sitting at their table for several dream minutes, keeping a low profile, looking about the room from time to time. At one point, they were indeed addressed by a waitress, and both ordered a glass of water, which they got without further ado, without the projection appearing suspicious. Apart from that, nothing seemed to change about the situation. Eric was still sitting at the bar, discreetly observing De Vos and the projection he was talking to, patiently waiting to make his move.

Just as Ariadne started feeling awkward, sitting around, not knowing what to say or do, the projection in the tiger-striped dress stood up and went for the entrance hall, leaving De Vos at the bar. The accountant did not seem to be irritated by this, still holding his drink, smiling to himself. Only a few moments later, Eric picked up his glass, still holding something in his other hand, left his seat and slowly walked over to where De Vos was sitting. Standing next to the now empty seat beside De Vos', Eric addressed him.

Slightly irritated, Ariadne shot a questioning look at Arthur who had been watching the scene as well, but his expression remained as nonchalant as always. As he turned his head to meet Ariadne's gaze, she leaned over the table once more, asking him in a confused way: "Okay, what exactly is he doing?"

At that, Arthur simply replied: "Setting up the trap."

Ariadne kept looking at him in a questioning way, expecting a bit more of an explanation, but when she did not get one, she continued watching Eric, just like Arthur did. As she saw the Extractor gesture to De Vos, showing him the mysterious object in his hand, Ariadne could not help but wish she was able to overhear what he was saying. _Just as long as he does not call himself Mr. Charles…,_ she thought with an amused smile.

After a while, De Vos started fiddling in one of his pockets, producing a small object, showing it to Eric. At that, Ariadne squinted in an effort to make out what it was. Not much later, Eric and De Vos were exchanging the objects, the latter with a polite and slightly relieved smile on his lips. Judging from their similar shape and shine, Ariadne recognized said objects as keys. Now, she started getting an idea of what Eric was doing. _He's making sure De Vos will end up in the right room,_ she deduced. _Guess he told him the reception mixed up their room reservations and gave him the wrong keys or something like this…_

Soon, the conversation between Eric and De Vos seemed to end, as they nodded at each other, and Eric turned to leave. He went for the entrance hall, passing by Arthur and Ariadne on the way, apparently not taking notice of them. Ariadne cautiously watched him walk out of the room, then turned to look at Arthur, asking: "We're not following him yet, are we?"

Arthur slightly nodded, looking into the direction of the doorway behind Ariadne, leading to the entrance hall. After a few moments, Ariadne noticed, in the corner of her eyes, that the blonde projection in the tiger-striped dress returned to her seat next to De Vos. At that moment, Arthur reached into one pocket of his jacket, taking a cell phone out of it. He answered an incoming call, not saying a word, but listening carefully, nodding his head. After he uttered a barely audible _Yeah_, hung up and discreetly put the phone back into his pocket, he told Ariadne: "Eric's on his way to the room. We're to inform him when the mark is leaving the bar and follow a safe distance behind."

In response, Ariadne nodded, then started pondering the question how Eric would get into the room, if he just gave the key to De Vos. _Then again, he's an Extractor,_ she figured._ It's his job to break into all sorts of places within dreams._ After she had finished that thought, another question popped into her head, which she decided to pose to Arthur: "How're we gonna put him under?"

With a subtle smile, he replied: "Remember the 'room service' feature we added?"

Ariadne thought for a moment. They had decided to place a bottle of De Vos' favorite wine in his room, so Eric was probably going to drug it. As she signaled her understanding by nodding her head, she let her gaze wander about the room again. Something about the scene started troubling her. _Is it just me, or are there more people in the bar now than before?_ Thinking back to her training before the Fischer job, she remembered Cobb's remark about projections converging on the dreamer. Looking at Arthur, she noticed he was calm as ever. As his gaze met hers, a soothing wave of reassurance came over her.

After a while, they noticed De Vos and the blonde were getting up from their seats, walking out of the bar, De Vos with his arm around her waist. As he watched them leave the bar, Arthur pulled out the cell phone, dialed and briefly informed Eric. Then, he pocketed the phone again, reached for his glass of water and suggested: "Let's take our time to drink up and leave in about ten minutes."

During that time, Ariadne noticed a slight tension well up inside her. On the one hand, she became aware of her desire to have some kind of conversation with Arthur, but on the other hand, she did not want to talk over the loud music still playing in the bar. And above all, she did not know what to talk about, except for the one subject she knew was impossible for her to bring up, especially now. So, they both remained silent for those ten dream minutes, then Arthur signaled the waitress that he wanted to pay. After he did, the projection said with a smile: "Enjoy your stay."

At that, she winked at both of them, before she moved on to the next table. Ariadne felt her heart skip one beat, as she gaped, automatically fixing her gaze upon Arthur. All he did in response was giving her a subtle smile and motioning her to get up. Soon, they were walking out of the bar, Ariadne right next to him.

Walking through the corridors of the maze, at one point, Arthur turned his head, then told Ariadne in a low voice: "Someone's following us."

Slightly confused, Ariadne asked in a whisper: "Who, a projection?"

As she was about to turn her head, she suddenly noticed the touch of Arthur's arm around her waist, sending a warm shiver through her. Pulling her a little closer, he quietly said: "Don't turn around, let's just move on."

Silently gulping, Ariadne did as he said. Walking towards the end of a corridor with two turns, Arthur gently led her to the right. _Wait, that's the wrong turn…,_ she realized, trying to change the direction of their steps, but Arthur kept walking to the right, so she reluctantly went along. As soon as they had rounded the corner, with a series of smooth turns, Arthur positioned himself and Ariadne in a niche within the wall. It seemed just big enough for the two of them. Only a few inches apart from each other, both of them were standing with their backs to one wall, a third wall right next to them. While Ariadne pressed both of her hands against the wall behind her, Arthur propped his right hand on the wall next to her head, his left arm still wrapped around her waist. Feeling her heart rate increase, Ariadne inspected the walls around her with a confused look, pondering: _Did I really design this…?_

Looking at the corridor, both of them took in deep, quiet breaths, careful not to attract any attention to themselves. After a few seconds, though, Ariadne could not stand the tension any longer, uttering in a low voice, without looking up: "Do you think they've seen us?"

Fixing his gaze upon the corridor, Arthur whispered: "They're coming right for us."

With her heart pounding, Ariadne breathed: "So, what do we do?"

Barely audible, he replied: "I know…"

This caused Ariadne to look up at him in a questioning way, her mouth half-opened. As soon as she did, Arthur lowered his head, his lips landing on hers. Completely taken by surprise, Ariadne froze for a few moments, but then closed her eyes, feeling a wave of passion crash inside her. Drowned in her emotions, she tilted her head, returning the kiss, wanting this moment to last forever.

But way too soon, their lips parted, as Arthur slowly drew back. Ariadne's eyes snapped open, noticing how close he still was, watching him look out at the corridor again. Avoiding her expectant gaze, he silently cleared his throat, then said in a low voice: "They're gone, let's go."

In a split second, he took his hand off her waist and slipped away around the corner, leaving a dumbfounded Ariadne behind. Taking in a few deep breaths, not moving an inch, she stared into nothingness, as realization hit her.

_He did it again…!_

**End of Chapter Six**

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AUTHOR'S NOTE – *whistle* Okay, seriously, who didn't see that coming? ;) And who here wouldn't believe me, when I say this last scene was my first idea for this fanfic? But don't ask me why my chapters keep getting longer and longer. Maybe now that I got that scene written down, they'll become a little shorter again. In any case, they'll become harder to write. I really like this chapter's title. Like the whole story, I kinda built it around the last scene, like, corner… corners of the mind… cornered… aha! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review and tell me how I'm doing. Thanks for being patient! See you around!


	7. Extracting Secrets

AUTHOR'S NOTE – Thank you so much for all your feedback on my last chapter! I'm really happy to hear you like my fanfic so much! Every review, Favorite and Story Alert is greatly appreciated. And every review will be answered, unless you are an anonymous reviewer or have deactivated private messaging. But now, on with the story… Enjoy!

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Chapter Seven: Extracting Secrets

It was all coming back to her now. Right there, standing in this peculiar niche within the wall, in the corridor of a building that did not exist in reality, memories of a half-forgotten dream were returning to her in a flash. All those details she had never been able to recall before. Now, she remembered everything that had happened within that dream she had shared a few weeks ago, even the exact dialog that had occurred between her and the Point Man.

_'What's happening?'_

'_Cobb's drawing Fischer's attention to the strangeness of the dream,… which is making his subconscious look for the dreamer,… for me. Quick, gimme a kiss.'_

'_They're still looking at us…'_

'_Yeah, it was worth a shot… We should probably get outta here.'_

That finally gave Ariadne the answer to one of the many questions she had been pondering for weeks: It was indeed Arthur who had initiated that kiss. Or at least he had gotten her to kiss him, but the whole idea of them kissing within the dream had been his. It had been meant to be a diversion, to make the projections stop looking for the dreamer in one of them. Much like that kiss in the corridor just a few dream seconds ago was meant to make the projections stop following them or walk past them. Or was it…? And just like during the Fischer job, right after the kiss, Arthur had left to carry on with the job, being all business again. Or was he…?

The more Ariadne thought about it, the more she felt the need to pose all those questions that were still left unanswered to Arthur. But at the same time, she was afraid of it. And she knew she could not possibly ask him while they were still in the middle of the job. Almost jumping away from the wall she was still leaning to, she decided to proceed in the maze, wondering if Arthur was waiting up somewhere nearby or not. As she had taken but one or two steps, suddenly a familiar voice reached her ear: "You 'ave to ask 'im."

With a start, Ariadne turned around to see Marie standing in the very spot she had just left, wearing her nightclub outfit, looking at her in an empathetic, yet expectant way. After a few moments of shock, Ariadne rolled her eyes at the projection and hissed in a low voice: "I know, but not now! We're in the middle of a job!"

In response, the projection of her friend gave her a cheeky grin, saying: "Well, 'e _kissed_ you in the middle of a job…"

"But…" Ariadne tried to find something to retort, then started pondering what this part of her subconscious was trying to tell her. After a few seconds, however, she snapped out of it, reminding herself of the dangers of bringing own projections into a job. Closing her eyes, she focussed her thoughts on the fact that this was not Marie talking to her, but a projection of her own subconscious, just like she had done before at the encounter of her projection of Professor Miles. And once again, when she opened her eyes, the projection was gone. Ariadne sighed with relief. _Gosh, maybe I should've gotten some more training before this job…_

Shaking her head as if to shake off the thought, Ariadne got going again, proceeding through the maze at a quick pace. She did not know how far Arthur had come without her already, or if he would be waiting up somewhere, so she decided to move on as fast as possible. At the same time, she tried to avoid drawing any more attention to herself, slowing down her steps whenever she was approaching a turn in the maze, cautiously looking out for projections in each new corridor. After about three or four turns, she caught sight of Arthur rounding the next corner at the end of the corridor. Quickening her pace again, she made sure to catch up with him.

"Arthur, wait!" she called as soon as they were in the same corridor, causing Arthur to stop and turn half-way around to look back at her, standing a few feet away. The moment his gaze met hers, Ariadne uttered in a firm voice, as if in a reflex action: "There's something I need to know."

The very next moment, she exclaimed in her thoughts: _Oh no, what am I doing? I can't ask him _now_! _Ariadne felt her heart sink and pulsate through her whole body. Utterly shocked by the words that had just escaped her mouth, she could not help but gape, desperately trying to think of a way to take back what she had just said.

With a questioning look in his eyes, Arthur inquired: "Yeah, what?"

For a brief moment, Ariadne thought she had heard his voice tremble a bit. But then she figured it must have been her imagination, as she could not find any traces of uncertainty or anxiety in the Point Man's expression. Unlike her, he seemed to be the impersonation of nonchalance right now, like always. While he kept looking at her in an expectant way, Ariadne's mind was racing like her heart did, trying to think of something to reply. As she could not seem to come up with anything, she started worrying about her emotions running wild and what might happen in case another projection came onto the scene. At that, suddenly she thought of something. Another question that had crossed her mind the night before…

Silently clearing her throat, Ariadne carefully formulated her reply, lowering her eyes every now and then, talking in a voice just loud enough for Arthur to hear her: "I don't really know how to put this… This is all… happening so fast, I… I don't know if I'm ready for this. I mean, I… What if I… mess up?"

With a slightly confused expression, Arthur asked: "What do you mean?"

At first, Ariadne felt confused herself by his reaction. Only when her gaze met his again, she became aware of the ambiguity of her words. Mentally slapping herself, she tried again: "I mean, down on the second level. I mean, I… I've never dreamed a level in a job before. What if I mess up?"

That caused Arthur to frown and reply in a soothing voice: "Hey, no…" Closing the distance between them with three or four steps, he softly placed a hand on her shoulder, causing Ariadne to feel warmth spread through her arm, all the way down to her fingertips. When she looked up at him, Arthur continued in his soothing tone: "Don't talk like that. You won't. I'm sure you can do it."

At that, Ariadne breathed a deep sigh of relief, becoming aware of a new feeling of confidence. Being at a loss for words to express her gratitude, she formed a smile on her lips and simply nodded at him. Arthur returned the smile, causing Ariadne's heart to skip one beat. As they kept smiling at each other, Ariadne started feeling the sudden urge to hug him, pondering whether it might weird him out if she did. Remembering how he had kissed her without warning just a few dream minutes ago, she figured: _It's worth a shot, right…?_

But as she was about to initiate the hug, a sudden low vibrating sound startled her, causing her to freeze to the spot. Half-wondering if that sound could be a musical countdown, she noticed Arthur was looking down at his jacket, using his left hand – the one that was not resting on Ariadne's shoulder – to pull his cell phone out of his pocket. He did not speak as he accepted the incoming call, but replied twice, first saying _On our way_, then _Good_. As he hung up and put the cell phone back into his pocket, he told Ariadne: "We got him."

At first, Ariadne had no idea what he was talking about. But after a few moments, she remembered that they were still within the dream, hunting down their mark De Vos. As she nodded her understanding, Arthur said, slowly taking his hand off her shoulder, motioning his head into the direction he was going to earlier: "Let's move on."

A few dream minutes later, they entered the room at the end of the maze, where Eric was already waiting. Sure enough, De Vos and the blonde projection were lying on the king-size bed, passed out, red wine spilled from their glasses that had fallen onto the tiger-striped carpet on the floor. While both Eric and Ariadne were still taking in the sight in front of them, Arthur produced the PASIV device from its hiding spot and set it up in the middle of the bed. Without further ado, Eric was at his side to grab one of the IVs, then sat down on the floor, his back leaning against the side of the bed, and prepared himself. While Arthur went to attach De Vos and the projection to the device, Ariadne hesitated for a moment, before grabbing an IV herself and sitting down on one edge of the bed, right next to the steel suitcase. Just as she finished connecting herself to the device, she noticed Arthur appear to her right, typing the dream time into the small displays.

"Are you guys done yet? I'm as ready as I'll ever be," said an impatient Eric at that point. Both of his colleagues chose to ignore that comment.

As Arthur finished typing and placed a finger of his left hand on the button, Ariadne looked up at him. Meeting her gaze, he gently touched her left arm with his other hand and asked: "You ready?"

Slowly, Ariadne let out the breath she had been holding and nodded her head. Returning the nod with a subtle smile, Arthur replied in a lower voice than before: "Alright. You can do it."

Then he pressed the button to send Ariadne into her dream. The last thing she saw was Arthur's smile. The last thing she felt was the touch of his hand, slowly lowering her onto the bed. The last thing she thought was that she did not want to leave him…

-xXOXx-

The next thing Ariadne thought was that she was within her dream now. The next thing she felt was a warm breeze on a sunny afternoon. The next thing she saw was a city that did not exist but in this dream. Standing on the sidewalk of a lively street, wearing one of her favorite outfits, Ariadne took a moment to behold her surroundings. The architecture of this place did resemble Paris, yet it was unlike any part of the city she knew, with higher buildings, more rounded structures and more trees and plants integrated. It was like a city design she always day-dreamed about.

She could not admire her work for very long, though, for after a while, a deep red car pulled up in front of her. Inside was Eric, opening the passenger's door with a casual _Get in_. Ariadne climbed into the seat, closing the car door. While she was buckling up, Eric turned his head to watch the traffic, asking her: "How do we get to the bank from here again?"

Ariadne thought for a second or two, before replying: "To the right at the end of the block, then left."

Nodding his head, he followed her description. While he was driving, Ariadne looked out of the window, taking in the sight of her dream city with awe, watching the projections of De Vos' subconscious wander about. As they turned into the street they were headed, Eric parked the car in front of a school. Across the street was a building with the name of De Vos' bank on it. As Eric turned off the engine of the car and pulled the parking brake, Ariadne asked him in a slightly concerned tone: "So, now what? You're not gonna rob the bank to get the idea, are you?"

"No, we'll wait for De Vos to enter the bank, then I'll go in and check if he's hiding his idea in there like we want him to," Eric explained.

"And then?" she inquired.

"We'll drive around or hide out some place. And when it gets dark, I'll break into the bank," he replied.

_So I'll be stuck in my dream with this guy for a few hours…,_ Ariadne thought unenthusiastically. Looking out of the window at the cloudless blue sky above the city, she started wondering how long it would take to get dark and if it was possible for her to dream a faster sunset, without attracting the projections' attention.

After a few minutes of silent watching, she heard Eric say out of nowhere: "You know, Ariadne, to be honest, I had my doubts about you. But I have to admit,… this is all pretty impressive."

Barely looking at him, she answered in an almost sarcastic tone: "Well, thanks."

"No, seriously," he replied with emphasis. After a few moments, he added: "And I'm sorry if I was a little rude at first. But you see, when Arthur told me about this _amazing_ architect he had worked with, I was expecting someone… well,… not a college student, that's for sure."

"…let alone a college _girl_, huh?" Ariadne retorted, trying not to show any emotional reaction to the part about the _amazing architect_.

"Well…" Eric smirked, then added in a low voice, as if he was talking to himself: "I couldn't understand why he _insisted_ on hiring an architect for the job himself."

At that, Ariadne's head shot back at him, as if struck by lightning. Had he really just said what she thought she had heard him say? Totally taken aback, her thoughts started racing, bringing up questions she had already been pondering at some point: _So, Arthur _insisted_ on working with me? But why didn't he try to contact me then? He couldn't have known I would call him, could he? Unless Cobb informed him, but…_

She could not finish that thought, because all of a sudden, Eric said: "There's our man!"

Slightly confused, Ariadne followed his gaze, then knew what he meant when she saw De Vos enter the bank, carrying a black briefcase under his arm. A few moments after the Mark had gone inside the building, Eric was about to get out of the car, but turned to address Ariadne once more: "Do you wanna come along, or are you waiting here?"

Surprised at the offer, Ariadne pondered the question for a few seconds, then answered: "Uh, I think I'll wait here. I could, you know,… keep an eye on the projections."

"Sure, do that," he replied in a slightly amused tone. "I'll be back in a few."

With that, he got out of the car and walked across the street to enter the bank. While she watched him go inside, Ariadne tried to pick up her line of thought from before: _So, why didn't Arthur try to contact me? Hang on, when I talked to Cobb on the phone, he did mention a visit from Arthur not too long ago. Maybe he tried to ask for my number, but Cobb didn't want Arthur to contact me because of the promise he had made to Miles. Gosh, if only I could find out what's been on Arthur's mind since the Fischer job! I really wish I weren't stuck within this dream right now, so I could just _try_ and ask him…_

Absent-mindedly watching the projections walk by, Ariadne suddenly became aware of someone standing right in front of the car she was in, apparently waiting to cross the street. Fixing her gaze upon the person, the figure struck her as somehow familiar. As the man started looking from the left to the right and back yet again, she caught a glimpse of his face. Blinking in disbelief, Ariadne tried to make sense of the sight, not entirely comprehending its meaning. _No, that's impossible. He's not even _in _this level,_ she pondered. When all of a sudden the projection turned to look at her with a subtle smile, Ariadne gasped, utterly shocked: _Oh no…!_

At that moment, her projection of Arthur crossed the street, walking straight towards the bank. With horror, Ariadne watched him draw a gun. _God dammit, Ariadne, stop projecting right now! _she tried to command herself, squeezing her eyes shut, but her rapidly beating heart prevented her mind from focussing. In panic, she tore open the car door, almost rushing across the street without looking, as the projection entered the building…

-xXOXx-

Ariadne's eyes fluttered open, as the flight attendant approached her. A little disoriented, she looked down at her wrist to notice the IV was still attached to it. When the flight attendant was about to remove the IV for her, Ariadne automatically sat up a little, shaking her head, forming an apologetic smile on her lips and attending to her wrist herself. Disconnecting herself from the PASIV device, she tried to collect her memories about the last events within the shared dream. _Did we make it? _After handing the removed IV to the flight attendant, who then left, Ariadne leaned back in her seat again, taking a look at her surroundings. As her gaze fell upon Arthur, who was seated on the opposite side of the cabin, he turned to look at her, giving her a subtle smile and nod. At that, Ariadne breathed a sigh of relief. _Yeah, we made it._

Remembering how her projection of Arthur had almost gotten them discovered down on the second dream level, Ariadne figured there must have been a great amount of luck involved. After she had raced into the bank, trying to stop her projection from harming anyone, there had been no sign of him. Instead, almost everyone inside the bank had been staring at her in a confused way, even Eric, who had been standing at a table opposing the counters, pretending to fill out a transfer form or something like that. Avoiding the projections' looks, she had walked towards one of the tables near the one Eric was standing at, looking through some brochures lying there, trying to stay calm. After a while, the projections had stopped staring, and she had slowly returned to the car. When Eric had come back a few minutes later, he had asked her about the incident, but Ariadne had managed to work up an excuse. There had been no more incidents after that. They had hidden out in the maze until sundown, then Eric had successfully broken into the bank to steal De Vos' idea. Ariadne remembered a police car following them, but they had been able to get rid of them in a multi-story car park, where she had created a closed loop.

Now, they had all been kicked awake from the dream, as the plane was approaching Paris. Sorting out her memories, Ariadne noticed they were much clearer than they had been after the Fischer job. For the rest of the flight, she could not help but think about one particular memory from the first dream level over and over again. On the one hand, remembering how Arthur had kissed her within the dream filled her with bliss. On the other hand, it made her worry, as it reminded her of how she still had not had the chance to talk to him about it. And right now, she did not even know if she would get the chance at all…

-xXOXx-

To her pleasant surprise, the team did not go their separate ways this time. After having landed in Paris and retrieved their luggage, Ariadne watched Eric walk up to Arthur and talk to him. At that, she assumed she was welcome to join them. As she did, Eric reminded both her and Arthur that there was still some of their stuff from the preparation phase left at his cousin's garage, and they would have to clear out the place before his return on the next day. So, the three of them took another limousine ride back to the garage together.

It was almost noon when Arthur and Ariadne were almost done getting rid of the last pieces of evidence, while Eric was in the entrance room, talking to his employers on the phone. As Ariadne packed away one of the paper models she had created, she kept looking at Arthur every now and then, pondering whether or not she should try and talk to him. But her fear of being interrupted by Eric kept her from doing so.

After a few minutes, Eric indeed returned from his phone call, announcing: "They'll be at the Eiffel Tower in twenty minutes for the exchange. Are you coming?"

Arthur, who had just set up his notebook on the table in front of him, replied immediately: "No, you can go without me. I'll stay here to start working on my next job."

As Ariadne shot a surprised look at him, Eric said with a smirk: "You know I wouldn't bail out on you with the money, you still have one of my cousin's keys."

In response, Arthur briefly returned the smirk, then turned back to his notebook. At that, Eric turned to look at Ariadne, asking: "What about you, Ariadne? You wanna come along?"

Ariadne hesitated, distracted by her racing heart and thoughts. _This might be my only chance to talk to Arthur… But what do I tell Eric?_ After a few seconds, she replied nervously: "Uh, actually, I… I think I'm gonna… head home. I… still got some… work to do,… for college tomorrow, you know."

With a frown, Eric inquired: "What about your share?"

Once again, she had to come up with something. "Well, I… you know, I can… give Arthur… my account number – right?" she tried, slightly turning her head to look at Arthur, secretly hoping he would not notice her nervousness.

Still typing on his notebook, Arthur turned his head and said after a few moments: "Yeah, sure."

To her, he had seemed a little caught off guard. But before she could think about that, Eric approached her. Still feeling Arthur's gaze upon her, Ariadne turned to face the Extractor, who addressed her, offering his hand: "Well then, Ariadne, it's been a real pleasure." As she carefully took his hand to shake it, he added with a subtle smile: "I wouldn't mind working with you again some time. Maybe once you've graduated from college?"

With a weak smile, Ariadne replied: "We'll see about that. But thanks, it's been nice working with you, too."

Releasing her hand, he gave her a nod, then looked into Arthur's direction, saying: "Arthur, I'll be back soon."

With that, Eric turned to leave the garage. When she heard him walk out of the front door, Ariadne silently gulped and took in a quiet breath, before slowly turning around to face Arthur. As she did, she noticed he was still standing in front of his notebook, but with his head turned to look at her, like before. Only now, he was wearing a subtle smile on his lips and a somewhat expectant look in his eyes. Remembering her dialog with Eric from before, Ariadne figured he was probably waiting for her to tell him her account number. But she did not want to talk business right now. This was her chance, the moment she had been waiting for so long. Her chance to ask him what she needed to know. But at that very moment, her pounding heart caused her to feel at a loss for words and unable to move.

After about one minute of silence, that had felt like half an eternity to her, Arthur took his hands off his notebook to fully turn around and face her, saying with a smile: "You know, it's really been great working with you again. You did an amazing job."

Mentally rolling her eyes, Ariadne thought: _Oh, come on, Arthur! Is this really all you have to say? Let me tell you something about this 'amazing job' I did…_ Aloud, she carefully replied: "Well, yeah, but… I almost messed up, down on the second level…"

Giving her an incredulous look, but still with a subtle smile, he retorted: "You _didn't_ mess up. We got the information we needed."

"Yeah, but… when I got into my dream,… I was very… distracted," she forced out between her rapid heart beats, trying to prove her point.

By now, any trace of a smile had disappeared from Arthur's face, as he carefully inquired: "Distracted by what?"

At that, Ariadne was no longer able to retain her composure. Breathing a deep sigh of frustration, she blurted out: "God dammit, Arthur, I was distracted because you kissed me within the dream… again!"

**End of Chapter Seven**

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AUTHOR'S NOTE – OMG, she said it! And here's for another cliffhanger! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was really hard to write, and in the end, I only wanted to get it done. So, I'm sorry if there are any grave mistakes. I tried to proofread, but I was rushing a little in order to get it uploaded. I did edit some of the previous chapters, because I found some mistakes there. Anyways, tell me what you think of this chapter, I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Please be patient for the next chapter. See you around!


	8. Taking Chances

AUTHOR'S NOTE – Finally, here's a new chapter! It would have been finished earlier, but it took me longer than expected. That was partly due to the fact that I have been sick for more than a week. I'm not sure if it turned out all that good, but I hope you enjoy… ;)

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**Chapter Eight: Taking Chances**

Ariadne could not remember ever seeing Arthur wear an expression like this before and therefore was not entirely sure if she was able to read it. To her, it seemed to be a mixture of surprise, perplexity and embarrassment, yet less intense than any of those feelings, as if reduced by some other emotion she could not detect. But there was one thing his expression undoubtedly told her: He had not seen this coming.

Even Ariadne herself was a little surprised about having said those words that had just escaped her mouth. And she as well saw herself confronted with an intense emotional reaction. On the one hand, she felt relief, for she had finally been able to let out what had been on her mind for so long. On the other hand, she felt anxiety, for now there was no way out of the situation and no way to predict how Arthur would respond to it. Waiting for his reaction seemed to be the most agonizing moment in Ariadne's life so far.

After several moments of awkward silence, Arthur looked down on the floor and, silently gulping, replied in a voice just loud enough for her to hear: "I thought you didn't remember."

Taking a while to analyze this statement, Ariadne could not help but interpret it in a self-conscious way. Almost as impulsively as before, she retorted: "Of course I remembered. Were you _hoping_ I wouldn't?"

Barely looking at her, Arthur defended himself: "No, that's not what I meant."

In a voice trembling with uncertainty and desperation, Ariadne inquired: "Then what _did_ it mean, Arthur? Why did you kiss me within your dreams?"

Her pounding heart pulsated through her whole body, like the ticking of a clock counting down her last seconds of hope. Apart from that sound within her, once again, there was death silence surrounding her, tormenting her for what appeared to be half an eternity. After countless beats of her heart, she became aware of Arthur clearing his throat and raising his eyes ever so slightly. Still avoiding her gaze, he answered haltingly: "Because I… don't know what would happen,… if I did it in reality."

At that, Ariadne gaped, not having expected to hear anything close to what he had just said. As it still took a few moments for the words to sink in, Ariadne's thoughts started racing like her heart did. There was no way for her to find a one hundred percent accurate interpretation of his statement. But to her, one thing was certain: He had just implied that he actually _wanted_ to kiss her.

As much as it sent a swarm of butterflies flapping inside her stomach, that certainty also filled her with a new feeling of courage. It was just enough to cause her to reply, almost in a whisper: "Well,… this is reality. And… I'm right here." She paused with a slight shrug of her shoulders, then struggled to work up her slowly fading courage again and carefully added: "Why don't you just… try and… see what happens. Just… take a chance."

As she unconsciously took two tiny steps towards him, as if to make it easier for him to comply with her suggestion, Arthur finally met her gaze. While his pose and facial expression had not changed at all, the look in his eyes seemed to convey an overwhelming blend of emotions that sent shivers through her whole body. Unable to tell apart which of the feelings flooding her at that very moment belonged to whom, Ariadne tried hard to remain as calm and rational as she could. _Alright, this is it, _she said to herself, trying to ignore the rapid beats of her heart._ There's two possibilities. Either he'll kiss me now, or… or…_

Just as she anxiously tried to figure out an alternative reaction, she noticed Arthur was taking a step forward. Then another. As he was slowly closing the distance between them, without breaking eye contact, Arthur's mouth opened ever so slightly, causing Ariadne's heart to skip one beat and her lips to form a subtle smile. When he stopped to stand right in front of her, leaving just a few inches of space between them, she silently gulped, looking up at him with expectation in her eyes, quietly breathing through her half-opened mouth. For the next few moments, they remained like this, eyes locked, yet without physical contact. Ariadne did not know just how long they were already standing there like this, looking at each other, but for her, it had been way too long. The tension inside her was almost unbearable, yet she somehow managed to resist the urge to just fling her arms around his neck and pull down his head to press her lips against his, reminding herself: _Come on, you have to wait for _him_ to do it!_

Finally, Arthur brought up one of his hands to gently touch her face, then started lowering his head. Ever so slowly, his lips went for hers, every inch that was closed between them causing Ariadne's heart rate to increase. Still resisting the urge to make any move of her own, but almost shaking with craving and excitement, she tried to ease her inner tension by slowly closing her eyes. Soon, his lips were so close to hers, she could feel his warm breath on her face and his nose slightly brush against hers. Not much longer now until their lips would touch…

But before that moment came, Arthur suddenly stopped. Mere seconds later, Ariadne noticed she could no longer feel his breath on her face. Confused, she opened her eyes again to see he was looking to the side, his head and eyes lowered. Just as she wanted to try and ask what was wrong, Arthur let out a deep sigh. Slowly withdrawing his hand that had been cupping her face, he said in a low voice, slightly shaking his head: "No, this is a mistake."

With that, he turned around, pacing away a few steps with his hands on his hips, leaving a dumbfounded Ariadne frozen to the spot. Watching him as he went to lean against the table like before, facing her, but avoiding her glance, she tried to articulate her utter confusion and disappointment, stuttering at a loss for words: "Wha-… But… I don't… I can't believe this…"

Clinging one hand to the edge of the table, Arthur let out another deep breath, then lifted his head to look at her, while he told her in a slightly uneasy way: "Look,… Ariadne. It's not that… You know, I do think you're amazing. You're smart, creative, pretty,… But… there's just no way we can let this happen."

Finding her voice again, though it came out a bit too squeaky, she forced out: "But why? You can't just… tell me I'm amazing, and then say it's a mistake! Do you have any idea what it feels like not to know where you stand with someone?"

"Actually, I do," he said in a low voice, then looked at the ground for a moment. Before his reply even had the chance to sink in, Arthur lifted his eyes again and made a quick dismissive gesture, continuing in a more firm voice: "But that's not the point. The point is that it's best for both of us, if we… leave it be."

Ariadne gulped hard at the sudden stabbing sensation inside her chest, trying to breathe it away. Barely audible, she asked weakly: "How can that be best…?"

With a sigh, but in a serious tone, he replied: "You said you almost messed up because of me. Eventually, our entire work could have been endangered. That's why… we should not let this happen."

In a hoarse voice, she retorted: "And suppressing one's feelings is less dangerous?"

"That's one of the basic skills you have to develop in the course of the training for the kind of job I have," he explained all too dryly. "Eliminate one's own weaknesses and discover the mark's skills and weak spots, to be able to defend your team against all dangers. You don't become a point man just like that."

Despite her growing disappointment and heart ache, Ariadne took the time to let his statements sink in, noticing she had never before gotten any idea of what Arthur's job required. Thinking about what he had just said, she suddenly started remembering some almost forgotten scenes from the Fischer job, as if cued by his words. On the first dream level, they had been in an old warehouse, surrounded by heavily-armed projections of Fischer's subconscious. As the team had been ready to proceed, they had all climbed into the van, except for Arthur. He had positioned himself at the front door, shooting at Fischer's subconscious security, defending the team, in spite of the high risk of getting shot himself and falling into limbo.

Gulping at the scene on her mind's eye, it was replaced by another memory right away. This time, Ariadne remembered something Arthur had explained after she had woken up from her very first shared dream. A dream that had ended with debris floating through the air and coffee cups exploding right in front of her face.

_'That's why the military developed dream-sharing as a training program, for soldiers to… shoot and stab and strangle each other and then wake up.'_

What had seemed like a passing remark back then now caused Ariadne to ponder _where_ Arthur might have acquired his point man skills. In her thoughts, being recruted for a secret military training program seemed to explain the nature of some other scenes from her half-remembered shared dream coming to her mind, like when Cobb had been shouting in Arthur's face, without causing him to even flinch.

After having used those minutes of silence to draw her conclusions, however, Ariadne did not feel the need to pose any questions about them. Instead, she was reminded of her recently hurt feelings, as she suddenly noticed tears slowly welling up in her eyes. At that moment, the nonchalant expression on Arthur's face was stabbing her like a hundred ice picks, causing her to let out in a choked voice: "Just because… you've become an emotionless super soldier, doesn't mean I can turn into one, too!"

That caused Arthur's jaw to drop into the slightest gape, leaving him speechless for several moments. "I'm not… That's not what I was trying to…" he began, but then paused, as there was a sound to be heard some distance away.

Ariadne had heard it, too. She was shocked to notice it was coming from the front door of the garage. Although she knew it was of no use, she desperately wished for herself to just disappear this instant. Anxiously, she slightly turned her head to look at the door leading to the entrance hall. A few seconds later, Eric appeared in it, carrying a small black bag over his shoulder, wearing a surprised look. "You're still here…" he half-stated, half-inquired.

As she felt her eyes tear up even more, Ariadne avoided both Eric's and Arthur's gaze, turned around, taking a few steps to where she had left her bag and picked it up. Without looking back, she shouldered her bag, then stomped past Eric, forcing out through clenched teeth: "I was just about to leave."

"What the…?" she heard Eric utter as she made for the door and rushed out.

Once outside, Ariadne forced out a deep breath, slowing down her steps. She gave in to the urge to turn her head and look back at the garage, as if waiting for Arthur to burst through the door and run after her. But nothing happened, and as she felt the first tear roll down her cheek, she decided to head home as fast as possible.

-xXOXx-

Entering her apartment made Ariadne feel at ease, at least for a few moments. As she closed the door, carelessly dropped her bag onto the floor and kicked off her shoes, she took in noisy, shallow breaths that nearly sounded like sobbing. Within the next few seconds, she stepped into her room, walked towards her bed and threw herself onto it. As soon as her face was buried in her pillow, there was no more holding back. For the next few minutes, Ariadne was finally able to cry her heart out.

It took a whole while for her to calm down and regain the ability to think straight. The first thought popping into her head was a reminder that everything that had happened at the garage before had been for real. On the way back to her apartment, she had been reaching into her pocket to feel for her totem several times. But that was not the only way Ariadne could tell that she had not been dreaming. The dull pain inside her chest was as real as could be.

In the following, she was trying to go over the agonizing memories in her thoughts once more, in order to examine them from every angle. Perhaps she would be able to make more sense of them in retrospect. For some reason, the first memory coming to her mind right now was how she had left the garage without looking back. At that, she noticed she had not even gotten her share of the reward for their successful extraction. Only a few moments later, she dismissed the thought, deciding that money was the last thing she cared about right now.

Spending several minutes on recalling everything that had happened before her theatrical exit, Ariadne did not come to a conclusion: _It just doesn't make sense. If he's really so worried about our feelings getting in the way of our work, then why did he kiss me within his dreams in the first place? Was it just some kind of test for him? To see if he could still keep himself and his subconscious under control? I really don't get it._

With a deep sigh, she turned her head to the side, her gaze falling upon the bag lying on the floor by the entrance. Pondering whether unpacking her stuff might distract her thoughts for a while, she finally forced herself to sit up on her bed. As she slowly got up and approached her bag, kneeled in front of it and started rummaging through its contents, she found her cell phone somewhere inside, still turned off from the flight. Considering the phone in her hand, she decided: _I think I'll call Marie. Don't wanna have to save my rants for college tomorrow…_

Turning on the phone, Ariadne sat down on the edge of her bed, then dialed her friend's number. After a few rings, her call was answered by the French girl: "Ari? Back from work so soon?"

"Yeah. Hi, Marie," Ariadne replied, shocked at how weak her voice sounded.

"Mon Dieu, what 'appened, Ari?" her friend asked with concern. "You don't sound good. Did you talk to 'im?"

"I did," she simply said with a sigh.

Marie hesitated for a moment, before she carefully inquired: "And what did 'e say?"

With another deep sigh, Ariadne answered: "He said it was a mistake." In a lower voice, she added: "And he thinks there's no way we could be together."

"Oh no, that's terrible," her friend replied in an empathetic tone. "I'm so sorry to 'ear that, Ari. 'ow could 'e do that to you?"

At that, Ariadne noticed her eyes were watering again. As she tried sniffing her upcoming tears away, Marie added: "Do you want me to come over?"

Rubbing her eyes and nose with her sleeve, Ariadne said: "Thanks, Marie, but… I think I wanna be alone now."

"Are you sure?" her friend asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I'll be okay," Ariadne reassured her with an emphasizing nod, although she could not see her. "I'm actually a little tired, too. I think I'll try to get some sleep."

"Alright, Ari. But if you want, I can come over later. You just 'ave to call," Marie offered.

"Thanks, maybe I will," was her reply. "And I'll see you tomorrow."

"Or earlier. You decide," Marie repeated her offer, then added: "Alright, see you, Ari. And don't think about 'im so much. 'e doesn't deserve it."

"I'll try. Bye, Marie."

"Bye."

Ariadne hung up and put the cell phone on her bedside table. Her limbs had been feeling heavy for a few minutes already, so she decided to try and get some sleep, like she had said. It was still midday, but with her lack of sleep the two nights before, she hoped it would do her some good. Laying down on her bed once more, she stared at the ceiling for a few moments, then closed her eyes, trying to avoid thinking about the cause of her tear-stained face and pillow.

-xXOXx-

Ariadne's eyes snapped open. Her mind was clouded, her heart racing. Had she been sleeping? It was very likely, as she could not recall her last line of thought. The only thing she remembered was seeing Arthur's face. His nonchalant expression, his dark eyes – all his usually soothing features had seemed almost threatening, though. Was it a dream? A nightmare? Or a flashback? How long had she been unconscious? Turning her head to look out of the window, she noticed it was almost dark, a dim golden light falling onto the opposing wall. It must have been a few hours, yet Ariadne did not feel rested. A low growl of her stomach reminded her of another daily need she had not had the chance to fulfill for a whole while.

With a sigh, she picked herself up off the bed. Before she headed for her kitchen units, she checked her cell phone for the time and for any missed calls, then she went looking for something to eat. Not particularly interested in preparing a savory dish, she just grabbed a slice of bread and poured herself a glass of orange juice. As she chewed on her bread, her slowly clearing mind was filled with memories of events from earlier that day. After a while, she shook her head as if to shake off the thoughts, replacing them with something more useful: _Should I call Marie and ask her to come over now? Or should I just try and learn for college and go to bed early?_

After a few minutes of pondering, Ariadne decided for the latter, but first she wanted to take a refreshing shower.

-xXOXx-

Just as she had wrapped herself in a big towel and started rubbing her hair dry with another towel, Ariadne thought she had heard a knock coming from her front door. Slightly confused, she tiptoed out of the bathroom and listened closely. Not much later, another knock against the door sounded. Pondering who it could be, she first thought of one of her neighbors, then deduced: _Maybe Marie wants to check on me. That would be much like her…_

But instead of her friend's face, when Ariadne opened the door, her gaze met a three-piece suit. Her shock at seeing Arthur standing right there was so intense, she would have dropped her towel, if her hand had not clinged to it even tighter in a reflex action. As she looked up at his face with her dropped jaw and wide eyes, she beheld his typical nonchalant expression. For a split second, however, she thought she had seen his eyes widen as well.

After a few moments of awkward silence and pounding heart beats, Ariadne cleared her throat and forced out: "What are you doing here?" Just as she had asked the question, she noticed he was carrying a black bag over his shoulder, similar to the one she had seen on Eric earlier that day. Carefully pointing at it, she added: "Did you come to bring me my share?"

Lowering his gaze on the bag, Arthur began: "Well, yeah, that and…" Looking at her again, he continued in a lower voice: "…to say I'm sorry. I think we should talk about this again."

At that, Ariadne's expression softened. For a while, she simply gazed at him in awe, secretly wondering whether she had ever experienced anything like this before. _This is… like a dream. _Almost gasping, she suddenly snapped out of it, her hand trembling on the doorframe she held onto. Nervously gesturing with her hand, she stuttered, avoiding his eyes: "Uh, could you… just… hang on for a minute?"

Lowering his eyes and silently clearing his throat, he replied with a nod: "Yeah, of course."

The moment he had said that, Ariadne loudly closed the door and whirled around, letting out a deep breath. Her mind was racing like her heart did. _There's no way this is _really_ happening! I _must_ be dreaming it up. He's probably just a projection of my subconscious. I mean, how the heck would he even know where I live? This doesn't make sense. I'm certainly still asleep on my bed._

Automatically, Ariadne looked over at her bed, as if she expected to see herself lying there. At that, she frowned. _But if I really _was _dreaming, would I even _know_ it? I'm certainly not in a shared dream right now,… or am I? __Wait… Arthur told me I might start having lucid dreams after a while. __So, it _is_ possible. I could be dreaming and be aware of it._

As her gaze slowly wandered about the room, inspecting it for anything strange or unusual, her eyes came to a stop at the sight of her desk. _There's only one way to know for certain…_

She headed for her desk, bending down to open the top drawer and rummage through its contents. Turning around the same objects for the second time, she frowned in disbelief. Taking her other hand off the towel, she thoroughly searched through the drawer once more, then scoffed.

_Damn, where's my totem…?_

**End of Chapter Eight**

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AUTHOR'S NOTE – Well now, that's the big question… Hope you liked this chapter more than I did. I don't know what was harder to write: The first scene or everything else. Somehow, the dialog made a lot more sense in my head before I wrote it down. At first, I wanted Arthur to tell more about his training himself, but it just didn't fit in. So, I let Ariadne do some speculating. I hope that was okay. I got the idea for that from the definition of the word "point man" in my DCE: "a soldier who goes ahead of a group to see if there is any danger". It's probably not the only or the best definition, but it made my imagination run wild. It might even cause me to write some kind of prequel to the movie, telling Arthur's story. Some time… Oh, and by the way, the chapter title as well as Ariadne's line "Just… take a chance" was inspired by a line from Katy Perry's song "Teenage Dream". Okay, that's all I have to say. Now, it's your turn. Tell me what you think about this chapter. Thanks for reading and for being patient! See you around!


	9. Sharing the Dream

AUTHOR'S NOTE – So sorry for letting you wait so long! I had so much to do for work, it almost caused a writer's block. But now, it's here, the new chapter of my story. Wait, first of all, thank you for the reviews and adds on my previous chapter. Last time, I forgot to say thanks – I wonder if that's the reason why I received less reviews on the last chapter… Anyways, on with the story! Hope you enjoy! ;)

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**Chapter Nine: Sharing the Dream**

No matter how many times Ariadne searched through the contents of her desk drawer, her totem did not turn up. Letting out a deep sigh of frustration, she pushed the drawer shut, held on to her towel again as she stood up, placing her other hand on her forehead to equalize the pressure building inside. _Alright, Ariadne, think, _she instructed herself, breathing slowly. _I had it on me all the time. If it's not in here,…_

With that she whirled around and made for the bathroom. Scattered about the floor were the clothes she had worn that day. She grabbed her pants and reached into the pockets, soon feeling something cold and solid inside. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ariadne produced the small chess piece from one of the pockets and set it up right there on the tiled floor of her bathroom. She hesitated for a moment, then tipped it with her finger. At that, she gasped, picked up the totem, set it up once more and double-checked. Shaking her head in disbelief, she pondered: _I never thought I'd start doubting my reality like Cobb eventually did… and that was only my _second_ job._

Finally, Ariadne stood up and went back to her desk, giving in to the urge to test her totem yet again, this time on a different surface. After setting it up on top of her desk and tipping it over for the third time, there was no more doubt. _So, this is _not_ a dream. That means Arthur is _really_ standing outside at the door of my apartment right now…_

Glancing at the door for a few moments, she still tried to make sense of the fact that all of this was happening for real. _Okay, so how did he find out where I live? Well,… he can find out just about _everything_ about any mark for a job, right? So, why not about me? This is actually a pretty scary thing to think about…_

Letting out a deep sigh, she opened the top drawer of her desk once more to deposit her totem inside of it. As she closed the drawer, another thought crossed her mind: _Well, let's see what _I_ can find out now…_

-xXOXx-

Ariadne deliberately took her time, in order to try Arthur's patience. She carefully picked clothes to wear, the way she would for a special occasion, then headed for the bathroom and got dressed very slowly, as if being careful not to crumple her clothes. Then, she blew her hair dry, thoroughly brushed her teeth and even considered putting on makeup and perfume, actually more because it would buy her more time, not because she felt any need to. Looking at herself in the mirror, she decided it was enough, in every respect. He had waited long enough, and she was ready to face him again.

Not much later, she went for her door, placing her hand on the knob, letting out another deep breath she had been holding. Half-expecting him to be gone, Ariadne opened the door, but Arthur was still standing there like before, apparently not having moved an inch. Even his gaze had been fixed upon the height of her own eyes, as if she had never closed the door between them. Waiting for him to say something first, she soon found him to be at a loss for words and felt the need to break the awkward silence herself. Lowering her gaze for a few moments, she carefully uttered the first possible thing to say that came to her mind: "I… I never expected you to come here. Actually, I thought you were already out of town."

"No, I'm staying for another couple of days," he stated.

"Where are you staying?" she inquired with a skeptical look at the bag over his shoulder. For a moment, she thought he might have considered staying at her place.

"At a hotel," was the reply she already expected.

Nodding her head ever so slightly, Ariadne decided it was time to end the talk in the hallway, secretly wondering whether he might have asked her to let him come in eventually. Silently gulping, Ariadne took a few hesitant steps backwards, opening the door in the process. Avoiding his gaze, she said in a low voice: "Come in."

With a subtle nod, Arthur stepped over the threshold, then waited for Ariadne to close the door behind him. For a few moments, they stood in the small anteroom, looking into each other's eyes, until her rapid heart beats caused her to turn her head to the side, trying to suppress an embarrassed smile. While she was slowly walking past him into the room, she noticed he did not follow her yet, but she could hear the low sounds of subtle movements behind her. Turning half-way around to look back at him, she saw he had slipped out of his shoes and was just placing them next to the door, all the while holding on to the bag over his shoulder. As he shot her a slightly questioning look from his stooped position, Ariadne could no longer keep her lips from forming a subtle smile, lowering her head in an attempt to hide it. _Mr. Obsessively Tidy, huh?_ She slightly shook her head as the thought struck her. _Why the heck do I find that cute?_

When Arthur finally entered her apartment – not before he had also hung up his coat –, he did the expected thing to do: take a look around. After his glance had wandered all about the room, from the bathroom door to his left, over the kitchen unit, two bookshelves framing her desk, her television set and her bed, to the crimson red couch in the corner and her wardrobe to his right, he uttered with a subtle smile: "Nice place."

"Thanks," she replied, barely audible, then pointed to the couch, saying: "Let's sit down."

Slightly nodding his head, Arthur turned towards the couch, but let Ariadne pass by and sit down first. As he seated himself next to her, carefully placing the bag on the floor by his feet, Ariadne could not help but feel reminded of a certain scene from the Fischer job. They were sitting almost in the same position as they did in the beginning of the second dream level back then, looking at a random spot somewhere in front of them. The mere memory of what had happened within that dream caused Ariadne's heart to pound in her chest. After a few more seconds of silence between them, she finally cleared her throat and carefully started, slightly turning her head to look at him: "Well,… you said you came to talk. So…?"

Taking a deep breath, which almost sounded like a sigh, Arthur replied, lowering his eyes: "Yeah, I… Like I said, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… hurt your feelings. And… I was _not_ trying to suggest you should, like… get rid of your emotions."

As he paused, Ariadne formed a frown on her face, which finally caused Arthur to look up at her. All the while, the usual nonchalance in his voice had been troubling her, as if the very sound of the words he said was planting seeds of doubt concerning their sincerity. But the warm look in his dark eyes told her otherwise. He really meant it. The frown on her face faded, as Arthur continued: "And unlike you might think,… I'm not made of stone, either."

The brief pause he made proved effective, as Ariadne raised her eyebrows. "It's just… Like I said, it's an essential part of my job not to give in to my emotions. It's become second nature to me. And after all those years, I guess… I never…" His voice started trailing off, and it seemed hard for him to keep meeting her expectant gaze, but finally, letting out a deep quiet breath, he managed to finish: "I never expected to meet someone… who could make me feel this way."

At that, Ariadne nearly gasped, her heart squeezing tight in her chest, making her feel like she could faint and jump for joy at the same time. Yet, she tried to remain as calm as possible and not to act on her feelings without thinking. There was still enough doubt left inside of her to consider all the words they had exchanged earlier that day. After a few moments, she silently gulped, then carefully inquired, almost in a whisper: "But… if that's _really_ how you feel,… why did you say it'd be a mistake?"

_Were you too afraid of your feelings for me, or of how they could affect your work?_ she added in her thoughts, but decided against posing that suggestive question aloud, so he would not simply respond with an anticipated answer.

Arthur lowered his eyes and shifted his position on the couch, slightly turning away from her. To her, it looked as if he was either ashamed or fighting some inner demons, or maybe both. After what seemed like half an eternity, he forced out in a low voice, without looking up: "Because… I was worried."

It was just as much as she would have expected him to admit. With a feeling of confirmation, she suggested: "About how that might affect your work?"

Slowly nodding his head, he replied: "Well. That, too, probably." Then, letting out a deep breath and finally lifting his eyes to meet her gaze again, he added: "But above all,… I was worried about you."

With confusion written all over her face, Ariadne asked: "About me? Why?"

At that, Arthur straightened up a bit on the couch again and took in a deep quiet breath, indicating a longer story might be coming up. "Alright, you see… After the Fischer job,… I did want to work with you again," he started, then paused for reaction, but Ariadne just nodded, as that fact was nothing new to her. After a few moments, Arthur continued: "So, I looked for a job in Paris. I contacted Eric. Then, I went to see Cobb and asked him for your number. He wouldn't give it to me. And when I said I could just as well find it out myself,… he told me what happened when you two were down in limbo."

"What… did he tell you?" Ariadne wanted to know, her voice trembling as she had noticed a change in his tone, sounding even more serious than before towards the end. Countless thoughts started running through her mind, tripping over vague memories from the half-remembered dream she had shared in the depths of Cobb's subconscious, causing her to ponder: _Did Cobb finally tell him the truth about Mal's death? But what does this have to do with me? Or with… us?_

It took a few seconds for Arthur to answer, almost whispering as he did: "He said you nearly would have missed the kick to escape from limbo, because you didn't want to leave him behind."

Ariadne could not help but scoff in response. She would have expected anything but that. "That's clearly an exaggeration," she stated, slightly rolling her eyes. "I _did_ make it. So, nothing to worry about."

And once again, Arthur did something she would not have expected. As if in a reflex action, he brought up both his hands to her arms, holding them with something between a gentle touch and a firm grip, causing her to gape at him in bewilderment. Looking deep into her eyes, he said with emphasis: "Listen, Ariadne, this is nothing to be taken lightly. You have been to _limbo_ and back. We both know what being in limbo can do to people and to their mental integrity. Losing yourself can be all too easy. And I really don't, under _any_ circumstances, want anything like that to happen to you."

For a few moments, Ariadne did nothing in response but gape and stare in shock and take in quiet breaths, while taking in all the things Arthur had just said. As the fog in her head slowly thinned out and the ability of rational thinking returned to her, she decided to try and take up the conversation from where they had left it before his unexpected outburst, asking in a slightly confused tone: "But you did offer me to work with you on another job anyways?"

At that, Arthur let go off her arms as suddenly as he had touched them, lowering his eyes and drawing back a few inches, as if he had realized how close he had gotten to her only now. "Well, it…" he started, silently clearing his throat. "I just thought,… it's a simple extraction. No sedative required, no subconscious security involved – nothing real bad could happen. So, I told Cobb he could give you my number, just in case you'd ask. I honestly never expected that to happen. Right after my visit to Cobb, I even told Eric he'd have to find another point man for the job. And a few days later, you called."

Almost chuckling, Ariadne replied with a subtle smile: "And I never expected you to offer me another job, either. Actually, I… I didn't expect anything when I called you. There was just this one… question… I wanted – _needed_ to ask you, and I…" At that, she noticed Arthur's eyes were meeting hers again, causing her to lower her gaze and fall silent. Her breath got caught up in her throat, as her heart rate increased, making her feel exactly the same nervousness she had seen herself confronted with before she had made said phone call. Silently gulping, she took in a deep quiet breath and forced herself to look up at him again, continuing in a slightly trembling voice: "I did ask you why you kissed me within your dreams, and you answered, but… I still don't know what to make of all that. I'm more confused now than I was before."

Slightly turning towards her again, Arthur said, almost in a whisper: "Okay, then let me try to make myself more clear…" He let out a low sigh, before he continued, using a soft tone matching the look in his dark eyes: "I kissed you within those dreams, because I really wanted to… And I didn't know if I'd ever get the chance to do it in reality. But at the same time, I was… too afraid to even _try_ kissing you in reality. Because I have no idea what it would do to you, if we intensified our relationship – professional, private or both. There are so many risks, dangers and obstacles coming along with this line of work… I know I'd be able to handle them, but I'm really worried about how they might affect you."

All the while, Ariadne had been looking at him in awe, secretly wondering how much closer to confessing his feelings for her Arthur could get. But she decided not to push her luck and contented herself with replying: "I think we both know what the risks are. But… I'm willing to take them, because… I don't want to miss the chances. And if you're afraid I might be losing myself some time… If that's the _only_ thing that troubles you, then I don't see any problem. I'm sure you can always teach me how to avoid losing myself." With a subtle smirk and in a lower voice than before, she added: "And maybe, in return, I could teach you how to avoid worrying too much…"

In response, something rarely seen happened in the form of a smile spreading across Arthur's lips, along with the slightest chuckle to be heard, causing her heart to jump with joy. "Sounds like a good deal," he then said in a low voice, still smiling in a way Ariadne could not recall ever having seen him do before.

Returning an even brighter smile, she slightly tilted her head to meet his lowered gaze again, carefully asking after a few moments of silence: "So,… now that we solved _that_ problem, is there… anything else you worry about?"

After a few seconds of apparent thinking, with his smile slowly fading into a more serious expression, Arthur looked up at her and replied: "I don't think so."

With a slight frown forming on her face, Ariadne inquired: "And how do I know I can believe that?"

Leaning forward a few inches, Arthur locked eyes with her and whispered: "How about this?"

Within moments, his hand gently cupped her face and drew her closer, causing Ariadne's heart to start racing. As his half-opened mouth slowly approached hers, she closed her eyes in hopeful anticipation. At the same time, her whole body tensed up at the flashing memory of a similarly hopeful situation ending in disappointment earlier that day. But just as her fears of all hopes being crushed again started getting the upper hand, all doubts were eternally banned by the soft, warm sensation of Arthur's lips on hers. Pure bliss and delight filled her from head to toe. While having been kissed within their shared dream had swept Ariadne off her feet, this time, it sent her straight to cloud nine. For this time, it was real.

After a few wonderful moments, their lips parted, while their nearly sparkling eyes met again. As she gave him a cautious smile, quietly breathing through her half-opened mouth, Arthur uttered in a low voice: "Believe it now?"

With her smile brightening and transforming into a smirk, Ariadne replied: "Not quite yet…"

Returning a knowing smile, he asked: "You still need more proof?"

"Yes, please…" she smirked, nodding her head. And in the next moment, she received her proof in the form of another kiss. Their second kiss in reality gradually became more passionate, with their hands holding each other's face, their heads tilting from one side to the other, the space between them on the couch decreasing. Ariadne savored every second of it with all of her senses, feeling warm shivers run through her.

Almost out of breath, their mouths parted again, after what could have been several minutes, if time had been of any importance to them right now. Looking at each other through half-opened eyes, they enjoyed the silence for a while.

_Better than any dream could ever be…_

As the words soared through her mind like a bird in the clear blue sky, however, another thought chased right after it: _But still… there's nothing quite like _shared_ dreams…_ Pondering the thought for several moments, Ariadne unconsciously drew away a few inches, causing Arthur to give her a questioning look. As she noticed that, Ariadne silently cleared her throat, carefully uttering: "You know, there's something… I'd like to do now."

Arthur's eyes went wide, and she noticed him tense up, as he said in an almost choked voice: "I, uh… I think we… should take it slow…"

Now, it was Ariadne who blinked and stared for a second or two, until realization hit her. _Oh god, what did I say…? _"No, no, I…" she quickly corrected, lowering her eyes as her cheeks started glowing. Breaking their embrace, Ariadne drew back to straighten up on the couch, her glance falling on the almost-forgotten black bag lying by Arthur's feet. Without thinking twice and without even taking notice of the confused look in Arthur's eyes, she bent down to reach for the bag and zipped it open. Sure enough, along with a lot of cash – _Oh, right, my share,_ she recalled –, the silver shine of an all too familiar object met her gaze. "Ever go anywhere without it?" she asked in a low, but quite teasing voice.

As Arthur looked down at the PASIV device, then back at her, he frowned: "You think that's a good idea?"

Letting out a sigh, Ariadne said with emphasis: "I thought we had a deal. You stop worrying too much, I stop taking too many risks. Are there any risks in sharing a dream for five minutes?" After a pause for effect, noticing how his frown slowly faded, she continued: "So, will you trust me on this? I'd just like to show you some of my creations that aren't job-related. That is, if you're okay with going into my dream…"

After a few moments of silence, Arthur slightly nodded, wearing a subtle smile, and replied: "Well, we're in your apartment, so, we can go into your dream. And I'd like to see what you have in mind…"

She returned the smile, as he pulled out the steel suitcase and set it up on the couch between them. They took their time to attach themselves to the device, exchanging glances every now and then. While Arthur typed in the dream time, Ariadne pondered: _Seriously, what can happen? I probably couldn't even be attacked by projections, because Arthur _never_ brings projections into a dream._

As she finished the thought, they exchanged one more smile and leaned back on the couch, ready to go under…

**End of Chapter Nine**

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AUTHOR'S NOTE – Gosh, this chapter took me way too long to write! And it probably sucks, if reading it feels only even half as straining as it felt writing. Really, most of the time, I could hardly finish two lines in one writing session. Dialog is one of the hardest things to write, and this chapter's loaded with it! I originally planned this chapter to be the last one, but I never expected this scene to get _that_ long! It just kinda turned out like that. But that way, I definitely had to save the dream for the next, i.e. last chapter. It does keep a little bit of suspense, doesn't it? ;) Well, I'm glad I got this chapter done before the end of the month, and I hope the next one doesn't take _that_ long to write. But no guarantees. I'll try as best as I can in my spare free-time. Please be patient and tell me what you think of this chapter. See you around!


	10. What Lies Under

AUTHOR'S NOTE – I can't even begin to say how sorry I am for not updating earlier. It simply took longer than expected. But thanks for all your kind words and for your patience! And now, for the final chapter of my story… Enjoy!

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**Chapter Ten: What Lies Under**

A dreamer can use another architect's design or layout, but the style of the buildings, interior or landscape appearing in the dream is always that of the one dreaming. In Ariadne's dream, everything was designed by herself _and_ in her own style. The world of the dream was _her_ world. A world she wanted to share with Arthur for a while.

In the blink of an eye, Ariadne rebuilt the city she had used on the second dream level in the De Vos job, but did not reproduce the exact same layout. She just let her imagination run wild, creating streets and buildings wherever she pleased, instead of letting them form a maze. Additionally, while the city she had created for the job was supposed to appear as realistic as possible, now she allowed herself to add features that would reflect her interests, her fantasies, maybe even her personality. Every structure was as round as could be, the buildings were standing far apart from each other and painted in various color combinations, resembling the patterns of her various scarves, and there were quite a lot of natural elements integrated, like trees and waterfalls. The city felt calm and peaceful, not only due to the lack of people in it.

Ariadne turned to look at the only other person around: Arthur, who was walking about some distance away, with his hands in his pant pockets, taking in the sight around him. As she watched him slowly approach her, she noticed that the clothes he wore did not exactly match what he had on in reality. His beige pants and white shirt were the same, but instead of a grey vest and amber tie, he was wearing a brown leather jacket, similar to the one he had worn in the first dream level during the Fischer job. A little surprised, Ariadne started pondering whose doing that might be. From her experiences in dream-sharing, she had assumed that either everyone sharing the dream could subconsciously change what they were wearing, or the clothing of all the people within a dream, including projections, was defined by its context, known to the dreamer. _Well,… I like him in that outfit…, _Ariadne thought, smiling to herself.

Soon, Arthur came to a stop at her side, exchanging glances between her and the dream city. After a few moments, he said with a subtle nod: "Looks very nice."

Chuckling a bit, Ariadne replied: "You sound like you're commenting on a design for a job."

He blinked and stared at her for a second or two, then shrugged, responding in a low voice: "I do like it."

By tacit agreement, they started walking down the cobblestone street next to each other, looking around as some more structures were still emerging on the horizon. Whenever their eyes met, Arthur gave her a warm smile that caused Ariadne to look away almost immediately to prevent the smile on her own lips from spreading all over her face. For some reason, she did not allow herself to show too much of the happiness she was feeling around him. Like the small clouds now gathering in the blue sky of her dream world, she became aware of the creeping doubts from before returning to her.

After a while, Arthur's voice drew her attention away from the sky again: "I don't think I've ever seen architecture like this before."

"Well, you couldn't have," she humbly said. "It's my own creation."

"That's quite impressive," he remarked. After a few moments of walking next to each other in silence, he asked: "What's inspiring you?"

Caught a little off guard, Ariadne began: "Uh…, various things. I mean, I like…" At that, she hesitated, carefully inspecting the smile on Arthur's face. With an expression between surprise and bewilderment, Ariadne retorted: "Oh, don't tell me you haven't done any research about me yet…"

Now, Arthur was the one to appear surprised, uttering: "Excuse me?"

"Come on, Arthur. Be honest. You already found out where I live," she started formulating the thought that had just crossed her mind. "So, what other info did you get about me?"

"None yet. I plan on doing that the traditional way," he replied smiling.

At that, Ariadne could not help but return an embarrassed smile, feeling bad about her earlier allegation. For the next dream minutes, they walked on, exploring Ariadne's city, at first in silence, then exchanging questions and answers about each other's favorite architect and other interests.

After about half an hour within the dream, they had passed under a white rounded archway that seemed to mark the entrance of the city, as they beheld nothing but green hilly landscapes behind it. A few steps behind the archway, Ariadne stopped, and Arthur did the same, following her gaze. Slowly, she turned around to face her city again, humming to herself in a thoughtful way. "I'm not quite done here yet," she then muttered in a low voice, while Arthur turned around to look back at the city himself.

All of a sudden, there were strange low sounds to be heard, accompanied by a most unusual sight: Ever so slowly, sections of the street were lifted off the ground by an invisible force, exposing the grass underneath. Up in the air, the street sections were bent, twisted and curled into various types of rounded shapes. After several moments, the spectacular transformation ceased, leaving a sight of the street layout that reminded one of a rollercoaster. Admiring her work, Ariadne uttered with a smirk: "I really missed doing stuff like that. What do you think?"

Arthur, who had been watching with something between awe and shock, gaped at the sight meeting his eyes. As Ariadne turned half-way around to give him an expectant look, he silently gulped and forced out, almost breathless: "Astonishing…"

Smiling to herself, Ariadne took a few slow steps back into the city, still looking at Arthur, motioning him to come with her. After a few more seconds, Arthur snapped out of his paralysis and joined her, walking back into the city on the now looping streets. Inspecting her changed city design, Ariadne could not help but think to herself: _If there were any projections around, they probably would've torn me to pieces already…_

As they had passed the first loop, defying gravity in the process, and were about to enter the second one, Arthur inquired, still in an astonished tone: "How did you think of something like this?"

At first, Ariadne did not really know what to reply. Pondering the question, she quickly became aware of the fact that she had not actually _thought_ about changing the physics of her dream city. She had simply _felt_ like doing it. Bending the streets like a rollercoaster had clearly been a way for her to express a feeling she had been experiencing. And it was not all that hard for her to tell which experience it was referring to… "Well, it's kinda how I felt in the course of the day," she finally stated in a slightly teasing voice.

There were a few moments of silence, until she heard him call from behind her: "Ariadne…"

Only when she turned around did Ariadne notice that Arthur had stopped in his steps, now standing a few feet behind her. As she gave him a questioning look, she registered the very serious expression on his face. Letting out a low sigh, Arthur said in a voice matching his expression: "You're still doubting me, aren't you?"

Ariadne felt her heart sink and her breath get caught up in her throat. Though she had been provoking it in one way or another, she had not expected him to pose a question like this. Gulping down the lump in her throat, she forced out, almost in a whisper: "I… I don't know, I just… I guess I'm… afraid. I mean… you nearly broke my heart earlier today."

"And I told you I was sorry," he replied without a change in voice. "I really wish I hadn't done that. I mean it."

"I know," she sighed, lowering her head, nervously tracing a random pattern on the ground with her foot. After a few moments, slightly shrugging her shoulders, she added in a low voice, barely lifting her head: "I don't know what kind of doubts I'm still having. I do believe you. And I really appreciate it that you're sharing this dream with me. I guess I couldn't ask for anything more."

By the time she had finished and lifted her head again, Arthur had closed the distance between them and was now standing right in front of her. As their eyes met and they exchanged a warm smile, Arthur inquired: "What else _would_ you ask for?"

For a few seconds, Ariadne blinked and stared at him in disbelief, then answered haltingly, lowering her eyes every now and then: "I don't know… Something to, kinda… prove we can trust each other…" As he looked at her in a questioning, almost concerned way, she quickly added: "Don't worry, I wouldn't ask you to,… like, you know, explain me how your totem works, or tell you about mine, either. But you know… just… _something_."

At that, his frown faded and he nodded his understanding. Then, with that contagious smile she had rarely seen on him, he said: "I'll see what I can do."

As Ariadne returned the brightest of smiles, Arthur brought his hands to her face and lowered his head, drawing her into a kiss. Pleasantly surprised, Ariadne returned the kiss passionately, wrapping her arms around his neck. As much as she enjoyed it, she did notice subtle differences between this kiss within the dream and the kisses they had shared in reality. The sensation seemed slightly less intense within the dream, causing Ariadne to think: _Can't wait to do this again in reality…_

For a brief moment, their lips almost parted, but soon, Arthur pulled her closer and tilted his head, deepening the kiss, as if he intended never to stop. Ariadne felt her heart rate increase rapidly, meeting an equally fast heart beat, pounding against her. She savored every single moment, as well as the fact that she hardly felt like getting out of breath.

Suddenly, however, the perfect scene was disturbed, as Ariadne registered a low clicking sound. At first, she thought her mind was just translating the beats of their hearts into some kind of a subconscious equivalent within the dream. But then she noticed that there seemed to be multiple sources of the sound from different directions, some getting louder, some fading away. Trying to listen more closely, she figured: _Kinda sounds like… footsteps on cobblestone…?_

Carefully, she opened one eye, looking past Arthur's face. At that, she gasped and froze, unintentionally breaking the kiss and the embrace, startled by the sight that met her now wide-opened eyes. "What the – how…?" was all she was able to articulate as she beheld some random people walking up and down the street.

Arthur, who did not seem to be surprised at all, looked around for a moment, then gave her a subtle smile and said in a calm tone, slightly shrugging: "Thought you wanted more proof…"

Staring at him with an expression between disbelief and amazement, Ariadne cautiously pointed her thumb into a general direction behind her, asking in an almost breathless voice: "That's _your_ doing?"

With a subtle nod, Arthur confirmed. Ariadne looked at him in awe, left at a complete loss for words. To her, those people walking around within her dream, projections of Arthur's subconscious, were the ultimate proof: Arthur indeed was willing to trust her, and to open up to her. After a few moments, however, Ariadne could not help but remember one of her first lessons in shared dreaming and feel slightly intimidated, asking in a low voice: "Won't they attack me, with all those weird streets I created?"

Almost chuckling, he replied: "Not unless you ask for it. If you made any more changes _now_, that might happen."

As Ariadne slowly nodded her understanding, Arthur slightly motioned his head, suggesting with a warm smile: "Shall we take another walk through your city?"

At first, Ariadne hesitated a bit, but as he gently took her hand in his, she returned the smile and started walking along the street with him. Daring to look at the projections walking by, Ariadne noticed they were not quite like she would have expected. The men and women passing by them were all wearing rather casual clothes, hardly any of the projections she saw was in a suit. _I guess it's really the context of the dream that defines the clothes,_ she figured. Additionally, she noticed that many of the projections were walking around in pairs. _I remember there were quite a lot of couples in Cobb's subconscious, but this place is practically _full _of them. Maybe that's because he's thinking a lot about that subject right now…? About _our_ relationship…?_

After having silently pondered some more questions and thoughts, she suddenly almost jumped, startled by the sight of a particular couple walking into the direction from where they came: It was Mal and Dom Cobb, holding hands, smiling at each other. When Ariadne's gaze started nervously fluttering around between the approaching couple and Arthur, he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. And a few moments later, the projections had gone past them without any incident. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ariadne asked: "Your projection of her is nothing like Cobb's was, right?"

With a subtle smile, he replied: "I've never projected them before, so they're probably just the way my subconscious remembers them."

They had been walking along the streets of Ariadne's city for several more dream minutes, talking about how this was the first time Arthur was bringing projections into someone else's dream (not counting subconscious defense) ever since he had completed his training, which was almost ten years ago. Ariadne knew very well that spending too much time interacting with projections of one's own subconscious was a dangerous thing to do in his line of work – she had seen the consequences illustrated by Cobb. But still, it was hard for her to imagine what it was like to do the complete opposite, suppressing one's subconscious for years.

After a while, they reached a very long arched bridge built high over a river, its balustrade consisting of rounded marble columns, standing mere inches apart, perfectly merging with the rounded railing on top of them. The color of the balustrade was particularly fascinating: From every point of view, the inner parts of the columns blended in with the achromatic color of the cobblestone street, while towards the outer parts, the color faded into an ivory tone. Arthur and Ariadne had not passed that bridge on their first stroll through the city, so they stopped to take in the sight for a few moments first. Eventually, Arthur addressed her: "That's an amazing design."

"Thanks," she replied with a modest smile, then gently pulled his hand, causing him to go on, saying: "The view from the highest point should be very nice."

At their slow pace, it took them about five minutes to reach the highest point in the middle of the bridge. As they approached, Ariadne's eyes immediately fell upon one of the projections, a young woman, that clearly stood out in the scene. Unlike the other projections, she was not walking about, but standing in front of the balustrade, looking out at the river below, her arms resting on the railing. She was right between Arthur's and Ariadne's height, her straight light brown hair went down to the middle of her back, blowing in the breeze with a golden shine in the sunlight, and she wore a purple blouse, a dark denim miniskirt over black leggings and a denim bag with some colorful embroidery on it over her shoulder. As they came to a stop just a few feet away from the projection, Ariadne noticed Arthur was tensing up a bit. Looking at him with a frown, she asked: "Who is she? She looks kinda lonely."

Without answering, Arthur lowered his eyes, looking neither at the projection nor at the young woman by his side. After a few moments of awkward silence, Ariadne shrugged, uttering in a tone as nonchalant as she could manage: "Well, I could ask _her_…"

As she let go of Arthur's hand and took a few steps forward, he sighed, replying in a voice just loud enough for her to hear: "She was my girlfriend in high school."

With a surprised look in her eyes, Ariadne turned to face him again. At first, the only thing she could manage to say was: "Oh." After a few seconds, silently gulping, she added, almost in a whisper: "So… what happened? I mean, how… did it end?"

Giving her an incredulous look, as if he had not expected her to ask, he answered in a low voice: "We planned to study at the same college, even to move in together. Suddenly, she didn't seem so sure about it any more. Two days before enrollment,… she told me she had met another guy."

Finding herself at a loss for words, Ariadne just gave him an empathetic look. _I guess that's what he meant when he said he knew what it was like not to know where you stand with someone…,_ she pondered, exchanging glances between him and the projection. As she caught sight of the denim bag around the projection's shoulder again, she could not help but take a closer look at the embroidery on it. Soon, she noticed that the colorful threads were actually spelling out a name, just big enough for her to read it: Leyla. When Ariadne's eyes remained on her for a little longer, all of a sudden, the projection turned her head to look at her, startling her. Bright emerald eyes met hers, sending a chill down her spine, reminding her of the stares she had received from the projection of Cobb's former lover. Soon, however, the young woman's expression softened, her lips forming something close to a smirk. "He was so crushed, the very next day, he joined the army," Ariadne heard the projection say.

Utterly surprised by what his subconscious had just revealed to her, Ariadne turned to look at Arthur, who lowered his head, as if he was ashamed. After a few moments, however, he began: "In retrospect, it was probably the best decision I had made in my life." Looking at her with a warm smile, he gently took her hand and continued: "If I hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten into the dream-sharing business,… and then I wouldn't have met you."

At that, Ariadne gave him the brightest smile and, completely forgetting about the projections around her, wrapped her arms around him. Returning the embrace, Arthur let out a breath he had seemed to be holding, his hands gently stroking her hair. They remained like this for quite a few moments, while one by one, the projections around them vanished again, on Arthur's mental command. That way, they were able to spend the last dream minutes by themselves…

-xXOXx-

As her dream collapsed, Ariadne awoke with a pleasantly warm feeling spreading though her whole body. Opening her eyes ever so slowly, she took in the familiar sight of her apartment, as seen from the couch she was seated on. For a few seconds, she just remained like that, not moving an inch, drawing in quiet breaths though her slightly open mouth. As her vision cleared, she became aware of a movement in the corner of her eyes. Slowly turning her head to the right, her dreamy gaze met Arthur's, as he was moving his head to his left side to face her. As soon as their eyes locked, a smile appeared on both their faces, expressing more than any words ever could.

After a few moments, they both sat up and quietly disconnected themselves from the PASIV device, all the while stealing glances and smiles from each other. As Arthur took both IVs to stow them away inside the steel suitcase, he looked up at Ariadne again, who in turn leaned in, locking eyes with him. And soon, they closed the short distance between their faces, initiating a kiss so loving and tender, it seemed like time was standing still. Ariadne savored each and every moment, feeling waves of pure bliss crash inside her.

Several kisses later, Arthur was about to pack away the locked up PASIV device, when he was reminded of his unfinished business by the contents of the black bag lying at his feet. As awkward as it seemed for both of them, he still had to hand over Ariadne's share of the reward for their recently finished job.

After the handing-over, Ariadne cleared her throat, then began: "You know,… you were right…" As he gave her a questioning look, she quoted him: "_There's nothing quite like it…_"

With a warm look in his eyes, he replied, almost in a whisper: "And there's no one quite like you."

Nearly blushing, Ariadne just smiled in return, not knowing what to reply. After a while, she nervously brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, carefully asking: "Um,… you said you were staying in Paris for a few more days?"

"That's right," he confirmed with a knowing smile.

"So,… what are you doing tomorrow?" she inquired in a slightly teasing voice.

Arthur lifted his eyes as if he was thinking hard, answering in a nonchalant tone: "Let's see,… I think I'm gonna get some work done,… maybe do some sight-seeing,… then I'm gonna have a date with you…" With that, he looked back at her, a subtle smile forming on his lips.

With a smirk, Ariadne replied: "Oh, really? Well, I don't think so…"

At that, Arthur's smile faded, making way for a frown. "You don't?" he asked in a low voice. "Do you have other plans?"

"Definitely," she said, then added, almost in a whisper: "Because _I_'m gonna have a date with _you_…"

He blinked and stared at her for a second or two, then, chuckling a bit, Arthur replied: "Oh, I'm fine with that…"

-xXOXx-

A few hours later, Ariadne was about to go to bed, but not without recalling the most recent events once more. They had fixed a time and place to meet for the next day, after Ariadne's last lecture at college. Then, Arthur had decided to get back to the hotel, but they had not parted without sharing a few more kisses. After he had left, she had still felt like she was sitting on cloud nine, unable to do anything but smile to herself for a while. A few minutes later, however, she had decided to call her friend Marie to inform her about Arthur's change of mind.

Now, standing somewhere between her desk and her bed, she pondered: _It's still a little hard to believe all of this happened for real…_

As her gaze fell upon her desk, she took a few steps towards it, kneeled in front of it, opened its top drawer and produced her totem out of it. Considering the chess piece in her hand for a while, she eventually put it back inside the drawer, closing it with a low sigh.

_No,… I _know _it was real. There's nothing quite like reality, either…_

**The End**

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AUTHOR'S NOTE – *sigh* Done! My little fanfic about how Arthur and Ariadne get together is finally finished. I hope you liked it! What do you think? Too much fluff, or just about enough? I really hope I didn't overdo it… And I hope you'll excuse the lame title for this final chapter. Anyways, I'm really looking forward to your reviews.  
And before I go, a very big THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed, including: **born30, Daisara Belle, cssypet, Legal-Assassin-006, dddynamite, saya-plus, Novella Vialli, BlackPuma137, Tzlil, Tommyboy1331, musicchica10, violetsandrosesJGL, bellesandwhistles, WolfWings97, cmssportzgrl, platypus core, moviemaniac12, Emzilla101, Istalri, Lorelai Grint, Olivia, Comfortably Plump**, as well as all the people who added this fanfic to their Favorites and Story Alerts, the people who just read it without leaving reviews and the people who might read this story in the future. I really appreciate all your support! I do hope to write some more _Inception_ fanfics in the future some time. Until then: Take good care and see you around! ;)  
Bye bye for now, BeeKay84


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